ADVERTISEMENT. 


Across   the   Continent: 

A     SUMMERS     JO  URNE  Y 

TO  THE 

ROCKY    MOUNTAINS,   THE     MORMONS,   AND     THE 
PACIFIC   STATES, 

WITH    SPEAKER     COLFAX. 

WITH  A  FULL  MAP  OF  ALL  THE  WESTERN  TERRITORIES  AND 
THE  ROUTE  TRAVELED. 


BY      S  A  M  U  E  L      BOWLES, 

Editor  of  the  Springfield  (Mass.)  Republican. 


MR.  BOWLES  went  Overland  to  the  Pacific  Coast  in  May  and  June 
of  this  year,  (1865,)  in  company  with  Hon.  SCHUYLER  COLFAX, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives ;  visited  the  Mining  Re 
gions  of  Colorado,  Nevada  and  California;  spent  some  time  with 
the  Mormons ;  passed  overland  north  to  and  through  Oregon ;  sailed 
up  the  Columbia  River  ;  went  through  Washington  Territory  and  Pu- 
get  Sound ;  visited  the  British  Provinces  of  the  North ;  traveled  all 
over  California ;  passed  several  weeks  in  San  Francisco;  and  re 
turned  home  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  in  September. 

The  Party,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  enjoyed  unrivaled  oppor 
tunities  for  seeing  all  sections  of  this  great  Western  Half  of  our 
Continent;  for  knowing  its  people;  for  witnessing  its  wonderful 
scenery ;  for  studying  its  various  resources  and  its  strange  develop 
ments  ;  for  learning  the  history  and  fcmdition  of  its  Mining  Inter 
ests;  in  every  way  for  becoming  acquainted  with  all'  its  material 
and  natural  characteristics.  No  travelers  were  ever  so  cordially 
welcomed  by  citizens  as  were  these, — the  journey  was  a  continued 
ovation, — and  all  the  most  intimate  and  authentic  sources  of  infor 
mation  were  freely  opened  to  them. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  results  of  all  these  Observations  and  Experiences  are  given 
by  Mr.  BOWLES,  in  the  Letters  which  constitute  this  volume,  with 
a  freshness  a:icl  fullness  which  have  won  for  them,  as  published  in 
THE  SPRINGFIELD  REPUBLICAN,  wide  attention  and  much  com 
mendation.  The  New  York  Times  says  of  them: — "THE  WHOLE 
SERIES  IS  THE  ABLEST  AND  MOST  VALUABLE  REPORT  EVER  MADE 
OF  THE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  WESTERN  AND  PACIFIC  POR 
TION'S  OF  OUR  UNION." 

In  the  volume  the  Letters  have  been  carefully  revised,  and  some 
additions  made.  Accompanying  them  are  also  given,  as  part  of  the 
history  of  this  rare  Summer's  Journey,  copious  Extracts  from  the 
Speeches  of  Mr.  COLFAX  at  various  points  on  the  route ;  additional 
information  concerning  the  Mormons ;  several  valuable  papers  on 
Mines  and  Mi.iing;  a  full  account  of  the  route  from  Oregon  through 
Idaho  to  Salt  Lake  City,  with  dsscriptions  of  the  Mines  and  popu 
lation  of  Idaho ,  new  and  interesting  facts  as  to  the  Yosemite  and 
the  Big  Trees,  and  the  Agriculture  of  California, — altogether  nearly 
100  pages  of  very  valuable  Supplementary  Papers. 

The  volume  will  be  found  especially  comprehensive  and  authentic 
in  information  and  ideas  as  to  the  Pacific  Railroad ;  the  Mormons, 
their  social  habits,  political  purposes,  and  religious  polity;  and  the 
Mines, — three  great  practical  themes  of  now  universal  and  pressing 
interest  to  the  people  of  the  East. 

The  accompanying  Map  contains  all  the  Territory  of  the  United 
States,  from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  with  the 
latest  divisions  into  States  and  Territories ;  the  routes  traveled  and 
described  by  Mr.  BOWLES  and  his  correspondents;  all  the  principal 
Mining  Districts,  and  the  general  features  and  principal  cities  and 
towns  of  the  whole  country.  It  is  prepared  expressly  from  latest 
surveys  for  this  volume. 

The  book  contains  about  500  large  duodecimo  pages,  finely 
printed  and  bound,  and  is  sold  at  the  bookstores,  or  sent  by  mail 
postage  paid,  for  $2. 

Orders  may  be  addressed  to 

SAMUEL*BOWLES    &    COMPANY, 

Springfield,  Mass. 
Or  to 

HURD  &  HOUGHTON,  PUBLISHERS, 

New  York. 


ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT: 


A     SUMMERS    JOURNEY 


TO     THE 


ROCKY    MOUNTAINS,    THE     MORMONS, 
AND     THE     PACIFIC     STATES, 

WITH    SPEAKER    COLFAX. 


BY     SAMUEL    BOWLES, 

EDITOR    OF    THE    SPRINGFIELD    (MASS.)    REPUBLICAN. 


SPRINGFIELD,     MASS.  \ 

SAMUEL    BOWLES     &    COMPANY. 

NEW    YORK  : 

A  KURD    &    HOUGHTON. 
1865. 


F : 
B  7  ' 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1865,  by 
SAMUEL    BOWLES    &    COMPANY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massa 
chusetts. 


SAMUEL   BOWLES  AND   COMPANY, 

Printers  and  Binders. 


INTRODUCTORY  LETTER 

TO   THE 

HON.     SCHUYLER     COLFAX, 

Speaker   of   the    United  States    House    of    Representatives 


MY  DEAR  MR.  COLFAX  : — 

It  was  so  pleasant  and  so  profitable  to  travel  with  you  during  the 
summer, — your  amiability  and  your  popularity  so  readily  unlocked 
all  mysteries,  and  made  all  paths  so  straight;  even  Nature  gave 
kinder  welcome  to  your  progress  than  her  wont ;  that  I  would  fain 
go  along  with  you  still  farther,  and  ensure  by  your  presence  summer 
skies  for  this  story  of  our  observations,  this  record  of  our  experi 
ences.  Besides,  the  book  is  more  yours  than  mine.  Your  friend 
ship  gave  me  the  opportunity  for  the  travel ;  your  favoring  thought 
first  suggested  to  me  the  then  strange  idea  that  the  Letters  should 
be  put  together  into  a  volume ;  and  your  wide  and  close  observation 
and  your  quick  insight  helped  me  to  much  of  the  material  and  the 
statistic.  So  I  may  rightly  claim  the  favor  of  your  name,  and  the 
charm  of  your  company,  in  this  new  and  unexpected  trip  into  au 
thor-land. 

You  know  how  strange  it  seemed  to  us  that  our  party  were  almost 
the  first  who  had  ever  traveled  Across  the  Continent  simply  to  see 
the  country,  to  study  its  resources,  to  learn  its  people  and  their 
wants,  and  to  acquit  ourselves  more  intelligently,  thereby,  each  in 
our  duties  to  the  public, — you  in  the  Government,  and  we  as  jour- 


'80 


IV  INTRODUCTORY   LETTER 

nalists.  How  strange,  too,  the  idea  was  to  the  people  along  our 
route.  They  could  not  well  believe  that  we  did  not  come  on  a 
selfish  mission  of  some  sort ;  some  secret  governmental  service ;  to 
see  how  they  could  best  be  taxed;  to  locate  the  Pacific  Railroad; 
to  make  a  bargain  with  the  Mormons ;  to  regulate  the  politics  of 
the  distant  States, — at  least  to  speculate  in  mines,  and  buy  corner 
lots.  When  the  fact  was  realized,  while  the  many  felt  gratified  and 
flattered,  and  showed  such  feeling  in  a  hospitality  that  had  no  meas 
ure,  there  were  some,  you  remember,  who  could  not  repress  the 
genuine  American  contempt  for  whatever  is  not  tangible  and  real 
and  money-making ;  and  I  am  afraid  we  passed  in  not  a  few  minds 
for  what,  in  mining  vernacular,  are  known  as  "bummers." 

So  I  could  hardly  realize,  until  I  examined  the  subject,  that  there 
was  in  our  literature  no  connected  and  complete  account  of  this  great 
Western  Half  of  our  Continent.  People  had  visited  it  a  plenty;  its 
whole  population,  indeed,  is  drawn  from  the  East;  scholars  are 
abundant  on  the  Pacific  Coast, — indeed,  it  is  claimed  as  fact  that  San 
Francisco  and  vicinity  hold  more  college  graduates,  in  proportion  to 
population,  than  any  other  city  in  the  country;  but  they  have  gone 
with  other  objects  than  to  see,  to  study,  and  to  describe ;  they  are 
dealing  with  materialities,  and,  as  a  rule,  have  taken  little  time  to 
look  about  them,  and  observe  the  fantastic  fashions  of  Nature,  to 
worship  the  majestic  beauty,  to  comprehend  the  varied  resources  of 
an  Empire,  that  belong  to  their  new  Home.  Stair  King  had  written 
home  of  a  few  single  features  in  California  scenery;  Dr.  Bellows 
came  back  penetrated  with  wide  and  deep  sense  of  the  marvels  he 
had  seen,  but  the  public  only  got  glowing  address  and  magazine 
article  or  two  from  him  in  detail ;  Fitzhugh  Ludlow  created  wider 
interest  by  his  brilliant  but  few  and  disconnected  papers  in  the 
"Atlantic  Monthly,"  on  special  themes  in  the  journey ;  and  the  pen 
cil  of  his  artist-companion,  Bierstadt,  has  caught  the  glow  and  the 
inspiration  and  the  majesty  of  some  chief  natural  wonders  in  these 
distant  regions,  and  spread  them  on  immortal  canvass,  to  excite  a 
world's  wonder  and  whet  a  world's  curiosity.  But  only  enough  had 


TO   SPEAKER   COLFAX.  V 

been  written,  only  e*iough  was  known  of  the  Nature,  of  the  material 
resources,  of  the  social  and  industrial  development  of  these  vast 
Plains  and  Mountains  between  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  to  make  market  for  more.  So  we  have  open  field  for  our 
story,  and  hungry  market  for  our  harvest.  So  my  Letters  are 
rescued  from  the  destined  oblivion  of  daily  journalism  to  figure  in 
covers. 

You  will  see  that  they  bear  substantially  their  original  shape. 
Here  and  there  is  an  addition ;  here  and  there,  an  irrelevant  para 
graph  is  excised ;  but  they  serve  better  to  convey  true  ideas  of  the 
country  we  passed  through,  in  preserving  the  freshness  of  the  origi 
nal  composition.  They  are  not  a  Diary  of  a  personal  journey;  nor 
a  Guide-Book;  nor  a  Hand-Book  of  statistics;  but  they  aim  to 
give,  with  compactness  and  comprehensiveness,  the  distinctive  ex- 
perien,ces  of  the  Overland  Journey ;  to  describe,  as  vividly  as  I  may, 
the  various  original  scenery  that  the  route  and  the  country  offer ;  to 
portray  the  social  and  material  developments  of  the  several  States 
and  Territories  we  visited, — their  present  and  their  future,  their 
realization  and  their  capacity ;  and  to  develop  to  the  people  of  the 
East  and  to  the  Government  their  share  in  the  interests  and  hopes 
of  the  West, — what  duties  they  had  to  perform,  what  benefits  they 
might  hope  to  reap.  It  was  a  large  field  to  cover  with  the  travel 
and  the  study  of  a  single  summer ;  to  see,  collate  and  digest  the  ma 
terials  of  half  a  Continent;  but  never  did  travelers  find  more  gener 
ous  facilities  than  we ;  and  to  opportunity,  such  as  was  never  granted 
to  others,  we  certainly  brought  intelligent  interest  and  enthusiasm, 
and  the  trained  eyes  and  ears  and  the  educated  instincts  of  journal 
ism.  We  certainly  brought,  too,  independence  and  integrity  to  our 
observation;  and  in  all  essential  affairs,  our  conclusions  were  sin 
gularly  coincident. 

So  we  have  assumed  the  responsibility  and  earned  the  duty  of 
Truth-speaking.  And  on  those  great,  pressing  public  themes  of  the 
Pacific  Railroad,  the  Mormons,  and  the  Mines,  I  would  have  you 
bespeak  for  my  revelations  and  discussions  the  attentive  ear  of  the 


VI  INTRODUCTORY    LETTER 

eastern  public.  Neither  Government  nor  people  seem  half  alive  to 
the  pressing  importance  of  either.  The  Railroad  is,  indeed,  the 
great  work  of  the  day ;  the  great  want,  the  great  revealer,  the  great 
creator  of  this  Empire  of  ours  west  of  the  Mississippi.  It  is  cheer 
ing  to  find  that,  since  we  went  over  the  Plains,  labor  upon  the  eastern 
end  of  this  Road  has  had  a  new  impetus ;  to  learn  that  new  elements 
of  capital  and  enterprise  have  become  engaged ;  and  that  on  both  the 
two  main  branches,  from  Kansas  City  and  from  Omaha,  the  Road  is 
worked  for  sixty  miles  west  of  the  Missouri,  and  by  spring  will  be 
opened  for  one  hundred.  But  I  find  no  proper  conception  in  the 
East  of  the  progress  which  should  and  may  be  attained  in  the  work. 
A  hundred  miles  a  season  seems  to  be  regarded  as  great  achieve, 
ment;  whereas  the  company,  that  takes  more  than  two  years  to 
cross  the  Plains  and  reach  the  Rocky  Mountains,  is  unworthy  its 
charter,  recreant  to  its  generous  trusts.  There  is  no  vanity  in  de 
manding  the  completion  of  the  entire  line  in  five  years;  what  is 
being  done  on  the  Sierra  Nevadas  proves  this ;  there  is  only  wanton 
waste  of  wealth,  only  stubborn  disregard  and  neglect  of  great  na 
tional  responsibilities  in  being  longer  about  it. 

With  regard  to  the  Mormons,  too,  we  all  saw  that  the  time  had 
come  for  a  new  departure,  for  a  new  policy  by  the  Government. 
The  conflict  of  sects  and  civilization,  growing  up  there  in  Utah,  will 
soon  solve  the  polygamous  problem, — rightly  and  without  blood 
shed, — if  the  Government  will  make  itself  felt  in  it  with  a  wise 
guardianship,  a  tender  nursing,  a  firm  principle.  You  will  see  I 
give  a  supplementary  chapter  to  this  subject,  to  let  the  Mormon 
leaders  strip  off  for  themselves  the  thin  disguise  of  loyalty  and  dis 
position  to  succumb,  which  they  wore  during  our  visit. 

I  rely  on  you,  also,  to  enforce  my  cautions  on  the  subject  of 
Mining.  That  great  interest  is  in  danger  of  real  injury  from 
feverish  speculation,  and  false  and  unwise  investments.  Of  the 
wealth  of  the  regions  we  visited,  in  gold  and  silver  ore,  no  adequate 
conception  can  be  formed  or  expressed;  the  mind  stands  amazed 
before  its  revelations;  but  it  does  not  lie  around  loose  on  the  sur- 


TO    SPEAKER    COLFAX.  Vli 

face  of  the  ground,  and  is  not  to  be  exploited  in  brokers'  offices  in 
Wall  street  and  "The  City."  Patient  and  intelligent  labor,  in  fields 
well-chosen  for  their  nearness  to  markets  and  to  supplies,  with  capi 
tal  and  skill  and  integrity,  are  the  inevitable  laws  of  great  success 
in  mining.  The  first  need  of  our  mining  regions  is  the  Pacific  Rail 
road,  to  equalize  prices  and  enforce  morals  and  system  in  the  busi 
ness ;  the  second  is  improved  processes  for  working  the  ore.  These 
gained,  and  no  interest  is  likely  to  make  more  valuable  returns  for 
well-invested  capital  and  labor.  A  Mining  Bureau  in  connection 
with  the  Government  is  a  desideratum,  always  provided  its  head 
shall  be  a  man  of  special  intelligence  and  divine  integrity.  A  char 
latan  and  a  rascal,  or  one  prone  to  become  the  victim  of  such,  would 
make  such  an  institution  a  curse  to  both  country  and  Government. 

New  and  valuable  mineral  discoveries  are  rapidly  being  made  in 
all  our  Pacific  States ;  the  season  has  been  one  of  industrious  and 
successful  prospecting ;  and  we  are  apparently  .on  the  eve  of  a  new 
mining  excitement  which  shall,  this  time,  take  in  not  only  the  Pa 
cific  but  the  Atlantic  as  well,  and  sweep  over  the  seas  to  Europe. 
Rightly  directed  and  restrained,  this  will  prove  great  impetus  to  our 
growth,  great  source  to  our  wealth ;  but  it  is  a  whirlwind,  after  all, 
that  leaves  many  a  wreck  in  its  passing.  And  woe  be  to  those  of 
us,  who  know  the  perils  of  the  storm,  who  have  seen  the  fields  of  its 
predecessors,  if  we  unworthily  fan  its  power  ! 

In  Natural  Wonders  and  Beauties,  as  in  rare  gifts  of  wealth,  the 
country  of  our  Summer  Journey  stands  out  prominent  and  pre 
eminent.  Neither  the  Atlantic  States  nor  Europe  offer  so  much  of 
the  marvellous  and  the  beautiful  in  Nature ;  offer  such  strange  and 
rare  effects, — such  combinations  of  novelty,  beauty  and  majesty, — 
as  were  spread  before  us  in  our  ride  Across  the  Continent,  through 
the  mountains,  and  up  and  down  the  valleys.  No  known  river 
scenery  elsewhere  can  rival  that  of  the  Columbia,  as  it  breaks 
through  the  Continental  mountains ;  no  inland  seas  charm  so  keenly 
as  Puget's  Sound ;  no  mountain  effects  are  stranger  and  more  im 
pressive  than  those  the  Rocky  and  the  Sierras  offer ;  no  atmosphere 


V111  INTRODUCTORY   LETTER 

so  fine  and  exhilarating,  so  strange  and  so  compensating  as  Califor 
nia's  ;  no  forests  so  stately  and  so  inexhaustible  as  those  of  Wash 
ington  ;  no  trees  so  majestic  and  so  beautiful  as  the  Sequoia  Gigan- 
tea; — aye,  and  no  Vision  of  Apocalypse  so  grand,  so  full  of  awe,  so 
full  of  elevation,  as  the  Yosemite  Valley !  Does  not  that  vision, — 
that  week  under  the  shadows  of  those  wonderful  rocks, — by  the 
trickle  and  the  roll  of  those  marvelous  water-falls, — stand  out  before 
all  other  sights,  all  other  memories  of  this  summer,  crowded  as  it  is 
with  various  novelty  and  beauty  ?  The  world  may  well  be  challenged 
to  match,  in  single  sweep  of  eye,  such  impressive  natural  scenery  as 
thisj  Professor  WHITNEY  tells  us  that  higher  domes  of  rock  and 
deeper  chasms  are  scattered  along  the  Sierras,  farther  down  the 
range ;  but  he  also  testifies  that, in  combination  and  in  detail,  in  variety 
and  majesty  and  beauty  of  rock  formations,  and  in  accompanying 
water-falls,  there  is  no  rival  to,  no  second  Yosemite.  You  will  be 
interested  in  Professor  WHITNEY'S  more  detailed  account  of  the 
Valley,  and  his  suggestions  as  to  its  creation,  which  are  appended 
to  my  Letters.  They  are  from  his  just  issued  second  volume  of  the 
Reports  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  California,  which,  if  suffered 
to  be  completed  as  begun,  will  present  a  complete  scientific  account, 
in  aggregate  and  in  detail,  of  that  wonderful  State,  and  be  the 
guide  to  all  her  future  development.  The  Yosemite  Valley  ought  to 
be  more  known  in  the  East,  also,  through  the  marvelous  photographs 
of  Mr.  WATKINS  of  San  Francisco ;  he  has  made  a  specialty  of 
these  views,  and,  besides  producing  the  finest  photographs  of  scenery 
that  I  know  of  anywhere,  he  gives  to  those  who  see  them  very  im 
pressive  ideas  of  the  distinctive  features  of  this  really  wonderful 
valley. 

Other  Special  Papers  accompany  the  Volume  and  help  to  give  it 
completeness  on  certain  points.  You  will  pardon  me  for  taking 
some  extracts  from  your  Speeches  on  the  journey;  and  I  must  make 
my  peace  with  the  public  for  not  giving  more.  There  is  a  valuable 
Letter  by  a  friend,  describing  the  stage  ride  through  Idaho  and  its 
various  Mines,  which  we  were  forced  so  reluctantly  to  omit  A 


TO    SPEAKER    COLFAX.  IX 

Map,  too,  is  improvised,  by  which  the  reader  can  follow  our  travels, 
and  see  the  general  "lay  of  the  land"  beyond  the  Mississippi.  The 
Map  is  corrected  according  to  the  latest  surveys,  and  defines  the 
present  limits  of  the  Territories,  and  the  locations  of  the  principal 
Mining  Centers. 

There  will  be  many  to  come  after  us  in  this  Summer's  Journey, 
partly  inspired  by  the  pleasure  of  our  experience,  chiefly  incited  by 
the  increased  smoothness  of  the  ways.  The  projecting  arms  of 
the  Continental  Railway  will  rapidly  shorten  the  distance  at  both 
ends.  Rival  and  improved  stage  lines,  new  and  pleasanter  stage 
routes,  surer  and  better  Accommodations  at  the  stations,  more  -fre 
quent  opportunities  for  rest,  all  will  speedily  come,  with  protection 
from  the  Indians,  which  Government  cannot  longer  neglect;  and 
even  another  season,  I  anticipate  such  facilities  for  the  Overland 
Passage,  as  will  invite  hundreds  where  one  has  heretofore  gone,  and 
make  the  journey  as  comfortable  and  convenient  for  ladies  even,  as 
it  will  be  safe  and  instructive  for  all.  Great  as  the  triumphs  of 
staging  which  our  experience  has  witnessed  this  summer,  they  are 
but  the  taste  and  the  forerunner  of  what  will  be  organized  and  per 
fected  for  the  overland  travel  within  two  years. 

But  will  any  of  our  successors  share  such  welcome,  receive  such 
hospitality,  as  was  ours  ?  It  can  hardly  be.  The  thought  of  it  all, 
its  extent  and  its  unexpectedness,  produces  a  sense  of  unsatisfying 
gratitude.  I  have  done  what  I  could,  in  these  Letters,  to  repay  this 
wide-spread  kindness,  by  making  the  country,  its  people  and  its  in 
terests  better  known  to  the  East.  They  need  nothing  but  the 
Truth, — none  of  them  asked  us  to  tell  other  than  the  Truth.  And 
yet  it  were  impossible  adequately  to  represent  all  the  strange  fea 
tures,  all  the  rare  capacities  of  this  new  half  of  our  Nation.  So, 
with  a  margin  still  against  me,  let  this  book  go  through  you  to  our 
friends  and  benefactors  of  the  Mountains  and  the  Pacific  Coast ; 
from  bluff  Ben  Holladay  and  his  gallant  knight,  Otis,  under  whose 
banners  we  ventured  out  among  the  Indians  from  the  Missouri 
River,  on  through  Saint  and  Sinner,  Gentile  and  Mormon,  Miner 


X  INTRODUCTORY   LETTER. 

and  Farmer,  gallant  men  and  ladies  fair,  who  gave  us  everywhere 
welcome  to  store  of  knowledge,  to  every  material  comfort,  to  every* 
divine  humanity  of  head  and  heart, — on  to  our  tender  friends,  who 
dried  their  wet  handkerchiefs  in  the  morning  breeze  before  the  fading 
eyes  of  my  wifeless  companions,  as  we  swept  out  the  Golden  Gate, 
on  that    cool    September    day;     farther  on,  indeed,  to  the  gallant 
sailors,  who  bore  us  on  summer  seas  down  the  Continent's  side, 
and  back  its  mate,  to  Home ! 
And  for  you  and  I,  my  friend, — 

"  When  you  next  do  ride 
May  I  be  there  to  see  !" 


I  am,  yours,  very  faithfully, 

SAMUEL  BOWLES. 


SPRINGFIELD,  MASS., 
December  15,  1865. 


INDEX  TO  CONTENTS. 


LETTER    I. 

FROM  MASSACHUSETTS  TO  THE  MISSOURI.— The  Railroad  Ride 
behind;  the  Stage  Ride  before— Spanning  the  Continent— Vitality  of 
Men  of  the  West^The  Chicago  Wigwam  five  years  ago:  History 
since — Cleveland  and  Chicago,  and  their  new  Life — Atchison  and  its 
History  and  its  Position— Pomeroy  and  Stringfellow— The  Trade 
over  the  Plains— Speaker  Colfax  and  his  party  for  the  Overland 
Journey— The  Indians  break  the  Line— Senator  Foster  and  the 
Indian  Question— Agriculture  in  the  West— Coach  off:  Good-bye, .  .  1 

LETTER    II. 

FROM  THE  MISSOURI  TO  THE  PL ATTE.— Atchison  fo  Fort  Hear- 
ney  through  Kansas  and  Nebraska — General  Connor  and  no  Indians 
• — The  "Galvanized  Yankee"  Soldiers — How  we  Rode — The  Country 
and  its  Fascinations — The  Scenery  and  the  Atmosphere — The  Mod 
ern  Caravans  on  the  Plains— A  Storm  of  Thunder  and  Lightning  and 
.;  Hail,  and  how  we  weathered  it, 10 

LETTER    III. 

THROUGH  THE  PLAINS  TO  THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS.— A  con- 
tinuous  five  days'  Stage  Ride— The  Plains  the  great  National  Pas 
ture — The  Platte  River — Climate  and  Soil — Natural  Highway  across 
the  Continent — A  natural  Road-bed — Population  of  the  Region — 
How  we  Fared— Prices  on  the  Plains  and  at  Denver— "The  noble 
Red  Man,"  and  our  Preparations  for  him— Life  and  Death  on  the 
Plains— The  Prairie  Dogs  and  their  Companions— The  Alkali  Wa 
ter—Parting  Breakfast  with  General  Connor  at  Julesburg— His  Posi 
tion  and  History — Reception  at  Denver, 18 

LETTER    IV.  ** 

THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS  AND  THEIR  GOLD  MINES.— A  Week 
among  the  Mountains  and  in  the  Mines — The  Switzerland  of  Amer 
ica— Long's  Peak  and  Pike's  Peak— Bierstadt's  "Storm  irftfcrRocky 
Mountains"— Theater  of  the  Gold  Development  on  Clear  Creek— 


Xii  INDEX   TO    CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Central  City,  Black  Hawk,  Nevada— Condition  and  Prospects  of  the 
Business— Mysteries  of  the  Sulphurites— Speculating  Companies— 
The  Gold  Production  of  Colorado— Reports  from  Idaho  and  Mon 
tana—The  United  States  the  Treasury  of  the  World— Questions  of 
the  Future, 30 

LETTER    V. 

OF  PERSONS,  NOT  THINGS.— Reception  in  Colorado— Grand  Gala 
Supper  to  Mr.  Colfax— Pen  Portraits  of  the  Party:  Mr.  Colfax,  Gov 
ernor  Bross,  Mr.  Richardson,  Mr.  Otis— Social  Life  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains— The  Young  Men  and  the  Young  Women— Ben  Holladay 
and  his  Stages— Famous  Rides  across  the  Plains, 43 

LETTER    VI. 

SUNDAY  IN  THE  MOUNTAINS.— Broad  Church  in  the  West— Mr. 
"Lo,  the  poor  Indian"— A  Day  and  a  Night  at  Virginia  Dale;  its 
Scenery  and  its  Landlady— Colorado  and  its  People— Movement  for 
State  Government — A  Mining  Story :  General  Fitz  John  Porter,  Smith 
and  Parmelee,  Judge  Harding— Lack  of  "Help"  in  the  Homes — The 
Blossoming  of  Eastern  Fashions— Lack  of  Horticulture— Necessity 
of  Irrigation— Canned  Fruits  and  Vegetables— Prices  of  Food  in  Col 
orado  and  Montana— Vernacular  of  the  Mountains, 56 

LETTER    VII. 

FROM  DENVER  TO  SALT  LAKE— THROUGH  THE  ROCKY  MOUN 
TAINS.— The  Indians  in  our  Path — Robberies  and  Murders  on  the 
Stage  Line— What  shall  be  done  with  them?— The  Quaker  Policy 
versus  General  Connor's  Policy — Our  Escape  and  our  Faith— *Wild 
Game  on  the  Route :  Antelopes,  Elk,  Trout,  Bears,  Sage  Hens,  etc.— 
The  Desert  of  the  Mountains— The  Sage  Brush— The  Bitter  Creek 
Country — Through  Bridger's  Pass  to  the  Pacific  Slopes — A  Night  Ride 
over  the  Pass— The  Curious  Architecture  of  Winds  and  Sands— The 
"  Church  Butte,"  and  its  Wonders— Fort  Bridger— Arrival  at  Great 
Salt  Lake  City,  .  .  .  . _.. .., .^tAA^r*^1  •  •  •  ^""^ 67 

LETTER  VIII. 
THE  WAY  INTO  UTAH  PlTECf3»TiOSL-BY_ia#'  MORMONS.— Ba 
sin  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake— The  Home  of  the  Mormons— Their 
Triumphs— Ride  among  the  Wasatch  Mountains— Playing  Snowball 
among  Flowers— Yellow  the  Favorite  Color  of  Nature— Echo  Can 
yon:  its  Beauties  and  its  Ruins— The  Valley  of  the  Jordan— The 
City  of  Salt  Lake:  its  Location  and  its  Promise— Mr.  Colfax's  Re- 
c*fHon  by  Soldier  and  Saint— The  Hospitality  of  the  Mormons- 
Excursion  to  Great  Salt  Lake— Strawberries  and  a  Mormon  Harem- 
Interview  with  Brigham  Young:  How  he  Looked  and  Acted— Heber 
C.  Kimball,  Dr.  Bernhisel  and  other  Church?  Elders— The  Anti 
MormonsJ§peentiles,  and  what  they  are  Doing— Death  of  Governor 
Doty, 79 


INDEX   TO    CONTENTS. 

LETTER    IX. 

MORMON  MATERIALITIES.— Irrigation  and  its  Results— The  Salt 
Lake  City  Gardens— Wonderful  Crops  of  Grain— The  Mysteries  of 
Great  Salt  Lake— Extent  of  the  Mormon  Settlements— Navigation 
of  the  Colorado  River— Supplies  for  Utah  by  that  Route— Policy  of 
the  Mormons  as  to  Agriculture  and  Mines— The  Silver  Mines  in 
Utah— The  Soldiers  at  Work  on  Them— Visit  to  Rush  Valley  and 
Stockton, 89 

LETTER    X. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY  AND  LIFE  THERE.-The  Chief  Commercial  City  , 
of  the  Mountains,  and  the  Watering-Place  of  the  Continent — Its 
Hot  Sulphur  Springs,  and  its  Salt  Lake:  their  Characteristics  and 
their  Uses— The  Present  Status  of  the  City— Profits  of  its  Mer 
chants — Prices  of  Goods  there — Dinner  Party  at  a  Mormon  Mer 
chant's — Brigham  Young's  Theater — A  Special  Dramatic  Perform 
ance — Brigham  Young  on  "a  Good  Thing," , 98 

LETTER    XI.  <$ 

THE  POLYGAMY  QUESTION.— Our  Opportunities  for  Studying  the 
Mormons — Testimony  from  all  Interests  and  Parties — Conclusions — 
Mormonism  not  necessarily  Polygamy — The  Latter  sure  to  fall  Be 
fore  the  Progress  of  Democracy — Present  Duty  of  the  Government 
towards  the  Question — Most  of  the  Federal  Officers  in  the  Territory 
Polygamists— An  Important  Distinction— Conversation  with  Brig- 
ham  Young  on  Polygamy — Points  of  the  Discussion — Suggestion  of 
a  new  Revelation  against  Polygamy — Views  of  Young  as  to  Slavery 
and  the  Rebels — A  Sardonic  Face, 105 

LETTER    XII. 

THE  MORMON  WIVES :  OUR  LAST  DAY  IN  SALT  LAKE  CITY.— 
The  Mormon  Women  and  Polygamy— How  they  Lire  Together— 
The  Children  and  the  Schools— The  Soldiers  Stealing  the  Surplus 
Wives — Neglect  of  their  Poor  by  the  Mormons — Character  of  the 
Mormon  Church  Audiences — Services  at  the  Tabernacle — Preaching 
by  Brigham  Young— Their  Religion  a  Coarse  Materialism— Mr.  Col- 
fax's  Eulogy  on  President  Lincoln — Elections  in  Utah — Judge  Kin- 
ney  and  Captain  Hooper — Good-Bye  to  Salt  Lake, 114 

^LETTER    XIII. 

SOCIAL  LIFE  AMONG  THE  MORMONS.— The  Cross  Relationships 
of  Polygamy— Brigham  Young's  Wives— Going  to  Heaven  by  the 
Coat-Tails  of  the  Men— Wives  the  Reward  of  Merit — Polygamy  "ti 
good  thing"  for  Poor  Men — Brigham  Young's  Retinue — No  Hand 
some  Women  among  the  Mormons — Brigham  Young's  Children — 
The  Soldiers  and  the  Mormons — General  Connor  and  Brigham 
Young— Porter  Rockwell,  the  Avenger— The  Movement  towards  the 
Sandwich  Islands, 123 


XIV  INDEX   TO    CONTENTS. 


LETTER    XIV. 

THE  RIDE  THROUGH  THE  SAGE  BRUSH  AND  THE  GREAT 
BASIN.—  The  Great  Desert  Basin  of  Utah  and  Nevada,  and  its  Char 
acteristics  —  A  Quick  Stage  Ride  through  its  Alkali  Dust  and  over  its 
Mountains—  The  Taint  of  the  Alkali—  Experiences  of  the  Ride— 
Greeley  and  Hank  Monk—  Problems  as  to  the  Culture  of  this  Re 
gion  —  Its  Redeeming  Beauties  in  Mountains,  in  Atmosphere,  and  in 
Exhilarating  Breeze,  ..............................  131 

LETTER    XV. 

THE  SILVER  MINES  OF  NEVADA:  AUSTIN  AND  VIRGINIA 
CITY.  —  Nevada  the  Child  of  California  —  Austin:  its  Location;  its 
Soeial  and  Material  Development  —  Classics  in  a  Cellar  —  The  Silver 
Mines  in  and  about  Austin  —  Character  of  the  Ore  —  Mills  —  Improve 
ments  and  Expenses  —  New  Mining  Discoveries  —  Virginia  and  its 
History  and  Mines—  The  Famous  Comstock  Ledge—  The  Gould  & 
Curry  Mine,  and  its  Statistics—  Its  Superintendent,  Mr.  Charles  L. 
Strong  —  The  Ophir,  Savage,  Empire,  Yellow  Jacket,  and  other 
Mines  —  Cost  and  Front  of  the  Virgiuia  Ores  —  Number  of  Quartz 
Mills  on  the  Comstock  Ledge  —  California's  Account  with  Nevada  — 
Conclusions  as  to  the  Nevada  Mines  —  Advice  to  Capitalists  —  A  Rhode 
Island  Example  in  Colorado—  Doubtful  Things  Very  Uncertain- 
Profanity  Discouraged,  ....  ..........................  141 

LETTER    XVI. 

THE  CONTINENT  ACROSS.—  The  Ride  over  the  Sierras—  The  Great 
Ride  Finished  —  Still  the  same  Republic,  the  same  Flag  —  Wonderful 
Homogeneity  of  the  American  People  —  The  Civilization  of  San 
Francisco  and  the  Pacific  Coast—  The  Material  Prospects  of  City  and 
Country—  The  Last  Day  in  Nevada—  Valleys  of  the  Truckee,  Washoe, 
and  Carson—  Steamboat  Springs—  Reception  at  Carson  City—  The 
Sierra  Nevadas  and  their  Beauties  —  Lake  Tahoe  —  The  Stage  Ride 
over  the  Mountains  from  Lake  Tahoe  to  Placerville  —  Hard  and 
Watered  Roads  and  Fast  Horses—  First  Views  of  California  Life,  .  .  159 

LETTER    XVII. 

OVERLAND  TO  OREGON.—  A  Pleasant  Revelation  in  Oregon—  The 
Overland  Ride  from  California—  Up  the  Sacramento  Valley—  Chico— 
General  Bidwell  and  his  Farm  —  Red  Bluffs  and  the  Family  of  John 
Brown  —  The  Trinity,  Klamath,  Rogue,  and  Umpqua  Rivers  —  Shasta 
andYreka—  The  Tower  House  and  its  Proprietor—  Mount  Shasta  and 
its  Snow  Fields—  Jacksonville  and  its  Gold  Diggings—  Pilot  Knob— 
The  Forests—  Pines  and  Firs—  Oak  Groves—  The  Mistletoe  and  the 
Spanish  Moss  —  Joe  Lane  and  Jesse  Applegate  —  Farming  in  the  Ump 
qua  Valley—  Entrance  to  the  Willamette  Valley—  Its  Agricultural 
Wealth  and  its  Rural  Beauties  —  The  Agriculture  of  Oregon  —  The 
Rains—  The  Summers  and  the  Winters—  The  Towns  and  t,he  People  of 
the  Willamette  Valley—  Portland:  its  Location  and  its  Importance,  .  16? 


INDEX   TO    CONTENTS.  XV 

LETTER    XVIII.  PA(}E< 

THE  COLUMBIA  RIVER:  ITS  SCENERY  AND  ITS  COMMERCE.— 
The  Reach  and  Importance  of  the  Columbia— Its  Breach  Through 
the  Continental  Mountains— Fort  Vancouver  and  its  History— Gen 
eral  Grant  as  Remembered  Here— The  Cascades— The  Dalles— The 
Scenery  of  Mountain  and  River— Steamboats  on  the  Upper  Colum 
bia—A  Bit  of  Private  Fun— The  Scenery  of  the  Columbia  as  com 
pared  with  the  Hudson,  the  Rhine  and  the  Upper  Mississippi- 
Mount  Hood— The  Great  Mountain  of  Oregon— The  Highest  Peaks 
of  the  United  States— The  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company— Its 
Rise,  Progress  and  Purposes— Oregon's  Pacific  Railroad  Cut  Off— New- 
Route  to  the  Carribou  Country— Summing  Up  of  Oregon— Its  People 
and  Their  Promise, 184 

LETTER    XIX. 

THROUGH  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY.— From  Portland  to  Monti- 
cello  by  Steamer— A  Rough  Road— A  Hard  Ride  through  the  For 
ests — Ferns,  Blackberries  and  Snakes — Skookem  Chuck — Olympia 
and  Reception  there — Pacific  Tribute  to  the  Stomach — Basis  for  a 
Religious  Superstructure — Washington  Territory — Its  Name'and  its 
Capabilities, 1.  ...  198 

LETTER    XX. 

PUGET'S  SOUND  AND  VANCOUVER'S  ISLAND.— Great  Lumber 
Market  for  the  Pacific  Coast— Saw-Mills  and  Ships  on  the  Sound- 
Victoria,  and  its  English  Features— British  Taxes  and  Expendi 
tures— Frazer  River  Gold  Diggings— Prosperity  of  Victoria— Depot 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company— Grand  Dinner  to  Mr.  Colfax— The 
San  Juan  Boundary  Question— Summer  Gardens  under  the  Perpetual 
Snows— The  Pacific  Coast  Climate  versus  that  of  New  England,  ....  204 

LETTER    XXI. 

SAN  FRANCISCO:  MR.  COLFAX,  AND  HIS  RECEPTION  IN  THE 
PACIFIC  STATES.— Back  to  Frisco— Its  Fascinations  and  its  In 
comparable  Climate— The  Town  always  "in  the  Draft"— The  Loss 
of  the  Steamer  Brother  Jonathan— Speaker  Colfax's  Tour  Complete 
—His  Reception  Described  and  Analyzed— His  Speeches— The  Mex 
ican  Question— His  Speech  at  Victoria— Governor  Bross  and  Mr. 
Richardson, 213 

LETTER    XXII. 

THE  YOSEMITE  VALLEY  AND  THE  BIG  TREES.— First  Impres 
sions—The  Great  Natural  Wonders  and  Beauties  of  the  Western 
World— Distinguishing  Features  of  the  Valley— The  Verdure  of  the 
Valley— Where  the  Zebra  and  Dr.  Bellows'  Church  were  Borrowed 
from— Various  Shapes  of  the  Mountain  Rocks— The  Water-falls  of 
the  Valley— The  Journey  to  the  Yosemite— Cession  of  the  Valley 
and  the  Big  Trees  to  the  State  of  California— Our  Party  and  its  '• 
Experiences— The  Excursion  to  the  Big  Trees:  their  Size:  their 
Age:  their  Beauty:  their  Majesty, 223 


XVi  INDEX   TO    CONTENTS. 

LETTER  XXIII.  PAQE< 
THE  CHINESE  ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST :  OUR  GRAND  DINNER 
WITH  THEM.— Number  of  Chinese  Emigrants— What  they  Do- 
Raising  Vegetables— Buildifcg  the  Pacific  Railway— Servants  in 
Families  and  Gleaners  in  the  Coal  Fields— How  the  White  Men 
Treat  them— Their  Habits— Their  Religion— Their  Vices— How  they 
are  to  be  Reformed — The  Chinese  versus  the  Irish  and  the  African 
—Chinese  Merchants— Their  Intelligence  and  their  Honesty— A  Din 
ner  with  them— Specimen  of  Chinese  Pigeon-English—How  the 
Dinner  Began,  and  how  it  Went  On  —  The  Chopsticks,  and  the 
Food— The  Writer  Rescued  by  the  Police,  and  Taken  Out  to  get 
"Something  to  Eat," 238 

LETTER    XXIV. 

THE  GREAT  THEME:  THE  PACIFIC  RAILWAY.— How  its  Need  is 
Felt — Anxiety  for  its  Construction — The  Hunger  for  "Home" — The 
Condition  and  Prospects  of  the  Enterprise— Where  Timber  and 
Fuel  are  to  come  from— Routes  over  the  Rocky  Mountains— From 
Salt  Lake  to  the  Sierra  Nevadas— What  the  Government  has  Done— 
What  the  People  are  doing  at  each  End — Lack  of  Enterprise  and 
Progress  at  the  East — Superior  Zeal  and  Progress  at  the  West — Rival 
Routes  over  the  Sierras — The  Wagon  Roads  and  their  Business — 
Mr.  T.  D.  Judah  and  his  Route  for  the  Railroad — Rapid  Progress  up 
the  Mountains — Four  Thousand  Chinese  Laborers  at  Work — Five 
Years  Long  Enough  to  Complete  the  Whole  Line— Appeal  to  the 
Men  of  the  East,  255 

LETTER    XXV. 

COUNTRY  EXCURSIONS:  THE  GEYSERS,  VINEYARDS  AND 
AGRICULTURE.— The  Valleys  of  the  Coast  Range— How  California 
is  Constructed— Oakland— Fred  Law  Olmsted  and  Major  Ralph  W. 
Kirkham — The  San  Jose  Valley  and  its  Beauties — Excursion  to  the 
Geysers — Petaluma — Russian  River  Valley — Healdsburg — A  Rare 
Whip  and  a  Rare  Drive— The  Geysers  Themselves— The  Embodi 
ment  of  Hell — The  Country  in  the  Neighborhood — Napa  Valley — 
— Calistoga  and  Warm  Springs — Sonoma  Valley  and  its  Vineyards — 
|  California  Wines — Champagne  the  Mother's  Milk  in  California — Fa 
cilities  for  Agriculture  in  California — Illustrative  Crops, „  274 

LETTER    XXVI. 

OF  SAN  FRANCISCO:  BUSINESS  MATTERS.-How  San  Francisco 
is  Located — Its  Sand  Hills  and  their  Fickleness — Lone  Mountain 
Cemetery — The  City  Gardens — Contrasts  in  Business  and  Social  Life — 
Character  of  the  Business  Men— The  Bankers— The  Bank  of  Cali- 
|  fornia — The  Wells  &  Fargo  Express  and  its  Various  Business — How 
it  Rivals  the  Government  in  Carrying  Letters— The  Machine  Shops 
and  the  Woolen  Manufacturers — The  Mission  Woolen  Mills  and 
their  Success  with  Chinese  Labor — Cotton  Manufactory  and  Other 
Industrial  Enterprises— The  Commerce  of  San  Francisco, 288 


INDEX    TO   CONTENTS.  XV11 


LETTER    XXVII.  PAGE 

MINING  IN  CALIFORNIA:  ITS  VARIETIES,  RESULTS,  AND 
PROSPECTS.— Present  Yield  of  the  Mines  of  the  Pacific  States- 
Processes  and.  Progress  of  Gold  Seeking — The  Soil  Washings,  the 
Deep  Diggings,  and  Hydraulic  Mining — Great  Enterprises  of  the 
Latter — The  Large  Results — The  Waste  of  Nature  by  Mining — "  Yuba 
Dam"  and  its  Anecdote — The  Quartz  Mining  and  its  Status — Grass 
Valley — Lola  Montez,  and  the  Horse  Milkman — Condition  of  Mining 
in  Mariposa  County — The  Fremont  Estate  Come  to  Grief— General 
Prospects  and  Condition  of  Mining  in  California — The  Idaho  Mines 
— Mining  in  the  Various  States  Compared — The  Advantage  for  Cali 
fornia — Personal  Experiences  in  Visiting  Mines — How  We  Went 
Into  the  Gould  &  Curry  Mine,  and  How  We  Got  Out, 302 

LETTER    XXVIII. 

SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO:  THE  WOMEN:  RELIGION 
AND  MINISTERS.— Visit  to  the  Cliff  House— The  Pacific  Ocean— 
The  Seals  and  the  Pelicans— A  Ride  along  the  Beach— The  Chaos  of 
Society  in  San  Francisco — Domination  of  Materialism  and  Mascu- 
linism— The  Women  Savored  with  it— How  the  Ladies  Dress— A 
Feminine  Lunch  Party — Activity  in  Public  Morals — Education  and 
Religion— Churches  and  School-houses— Ambition  for  Smart  Preach 
ers—Rev.  Dr.  Wadsworth,  Rev.  Dr.  Scudder,  Rev.  Mr.  Stebbins— 
The  Country  Parishes— Wide  Field  for  Missionary  Labor— The  Pa 
cific  Railroad  the  Great  Missionary  of  All— Rev.  Mr.  Stebbins'  Views 
of  California  Life, 321 

LETTER     XXIX. 

CLIMATE  AND  PRODUCTIONS:  COST  OF  LIVING:  CURRENCY 
QUESTION:  THE  MINT.— Advantage  of  the  Pacific  Climate  for 
Invalids— Effects  of  the  Climate  upon  the  Race— The  Fruits  and 
Vegetables  of  California,  Compared  with  those  of  the  East— Beauty 
of  the  California  Spring— The  Best  Time  to  Visit  the  Pacific  States- 
Comparative  Pi-ices  of  Living— The  What  Cheer  House— Prices  in 
the  Markets— Gold  and  Silver  the  only  Currency— Question  of  Intro 
ducing  Paper  Money— The  Mint  at  San  Fiancisco— The  World's 
Settling  House  at  San  Francisco, 335 

LETTER    XXX. 

THE  MINING  QUESTIONS  AGAIN :  GENERAL  REVIEW.— A  New 
Word  of  Caution  to  Eastern  Capitalists — Speculators  and  Swindlers 
in  the  Field — Other  Authority  for  these  Views;  Professor  Whitney 
and  Mr.  Ashburner — Double  Injury  of  Deception — Importance  of  the 
Geological  Survey  of  California — The  Superior  Richness  of  the  Col 
orado  Gold  Mines — New  Mining  Discoveries  in  California — Latest 
Phase  of  the  Comstock  Ledge — The  Gold  and  Copper  Mines  in  Ari 
zona — Last  News  from  Idaho — The  Oil  Fever  of  the  East  and  the 
Gold  Fever  of  the  West— The  Copper  and  Quicksilver  Mines  of 
California— The  Petroleum  Speculation  in  California— Vineyards 
Growing  on  the  supposed  Oil  Beds, 348 


XViil  INDEX   TO    CONTENTS. 

LETTER  XXXI.  PAQE 
THE  FAREWELL  FESTIVITIES  :  POLITICS  AND  POLITICIANS.— 
The  Pathos  of  Parting— Our  Final  Visit  in  San  Francisco— A 
Crowded  Week— Magnificent  Dinner  Party— Brilliant  Faiewell  Ball 
and  Banquet,  with  Orthodox  Belles  and  Hot  Beef  Tea— Politics  of 
the  Pacific  States— Their  Rescue  from  Secession— Theii  Affiliation 
with  the  Union  Party — Governors  Blaisdell,  Lowe  and  GK>bs — Sena 
tors  Stewart  and  Contoess—T.  Starr  King's  opportunity— His  Sacred 
Fame  on  the  Pacific  Coast— The  California  Congressmen— Large 
Emigration  of  Rebels  from  Missouri  to  Oregon— Anecdote  of  Sena 
tor  Nesmith  of  Oregon — Pacific  Loyalty  a  Passion,  and  i  ts  Intoler 
ance — The.  Indians  of  the  Pacific  States — The  Indian  Question 
Briefly  Summed  Up— The  Slang  Phrases  of  the  Coast— A  Parting 
Word  for  California  and  her  Sister  States, 358 

LETTER    XXXII. 

THE  VOYAGE  HOME  BY  STEAMSHIP  AND  THE  ISTHMUS.— 
An  Unique  Sea  Trip— Your  Companions  on  the  Voyage— The  Accom 
modations  and  Food  on  the  Steamer— The  Crowd— The  Mixture— 
The  Babies— Down  the  Coast  on  Smooth  Seas  and  in  Sight  of  Land 
— Tropical  Weather  and  its  Effects — Stopping  at  Acapulco — The 
Town  and  its  Mexican  Inhabitants — The  Evening  on  Shore — Interview 
with  General  Alvarez — Poor  Prospects  for  Mexican  Independence — 
The  Bartering  for  Fruits  and  Shells — Down  the  Coast  Again — Gua 
temala  and  its  Volcanoes — San  Salvador  and  Nicaragua — Arrival  at 
Panama— Scenes  in  the  Harbor— Burial  of  one  of  our  Passengers- 
Day  Upon  the  Isthmus— Panama  and  its  Idiosyncrasies— The  Rail 
road  Across  the  Isthmus— The  Ride  and  its  Tropical  Revelations—  • 
The  Natives  and  their  Nudity— Chagres  River  and  the  Isthmus 
Fever — Aspinwall  and  its  Barrenness — The  Steamship  Service  on 
the  Atlantic  Side— A  Fortunate  Run  to  New  York— The  Trip  Summed 
Up — The  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  and  its  new  Career — 
Prices  of  Passage— The  Moral  Unhealth  of  the  Crowd  on  the  Steam 
ers— The  Summer  Journey  Ended:  Its  Limits  Reviewed:  Its  Tri- 
Hmphs  Stated :  Its  Results  Measured, 370 


INDEX   TO   CONTENTS. 


SUPPLEMENTARY    PAPERS. 


p  PAGE. 

THE  MORMONS.— Their  Present  Attitude  towards  the  Government- 
Defense  of  Polygamy— A  Specimen  of  Mormon  Preaching— The 
Emigration  of  1865, . 391 

II. 

MINES  AND  MINING.— The  Mines  in  Montana-The  Uncertainties  of 
Mining,  by  PROFESSOR  WHITNEY— The  Mining  Laws  and  their  Opera 
tion,  by  Mr.  CHARLES  ALLEN  of  Boston— How  the  Metal  is  Extracted 
from  the  Reese  River  Quartz,  by  Mr.  ALLEN— Eastern  Investment  in 
Reese  River  Mines— GENERAL  ROSECRANS  on  the  Mines  of  Nevada,  .  .  399 

III. 

MR.  COLFAX'S  SPEECHES.— Mr.  Lincoln's  Message  to  the  Miners, 
at  Central  City,  Colorado — The  Respective  Duties  of  Government 
and  People :  Suggestions  to  the  Mormons,  at  Great  Salt  Lake  City — 
The  Mines  and  their  Taxation,  at  Virginia  City,  Nevada— The  Pacific 
Railroad,  at  Virginia  City,  Nevada— The  Republic  and  Peace :  The 
Mexican  Question,  at  San  Francisco— California's  Past  and  Future, 
at  San  Francisco — America  and  Britain,  at  Victoria,  Vancouver's 
Island— Farewell  Speech,  at  Parting  Banquet  in  San  Francisco,  ...  405 

IV. 

IDAHO  AND  ITS  MINES :  WITH  AN  ACCOUNT  OP  THE  OVERLAND  JOURNEY 
FROM  OREGON  TO  SALT  LAKE  CITY.— Up  the  Columbia— Walla  Walla— 
iver  the  Blue  Mountains— The  Grand  Ronde  Valley— The  Upper 
Snake  River— Thomas  &  Ruckel's  Stage  Line,  and  its  Proprietors— 
Idaho  Territory— Boise  City— Idaho  City— The  Various  Gold  Dig 
gings—South  Boise— Owyhee— Illustrations  of  Mining  Life— The 
Great  Falls  of  Snake  River— Road  Agents— Sage  Plains— Salt  Lake,  418 

V. 

THE  YOSEMITE  VALLEY.— Its  Marvels  and  its  Beauties,  Scientific 
ally  Described,  by  Professor  J.  D.  WHITNEY, 429 

VI. 

THE  BIG  TREES.— The  Grove  in  Calaveras  County— Exact  Measure 
ments  of  some  of  the  Largest  Trees— The  Species  and  the  Name,  .  436 

VII. 

CALIFORNIA'S  WEALTH.— Statistics  from  an  Agricultural  Address 
by  Dr.  HOLDEN  of  Stockton, 438 


XX  INDEX   TO    CONTENTS. 


VIII. 

PAGK. 

THE  GOLD  MINES  OF  CALIFORNIA,  AND  THE  SILVER  MINES 
OF  NEVADA— A  Special  Paper,  by  Mr.  WILLIAM  ASHBURNER,  Mining 
Engineer.— The  Gold  Producing  Region  of  California— Placer  Mining 
—The  Quartz-Mines :  their  History  and  Condition— The  Silver  Mines 
of  Nevada— The  Comstock  Vein  and  its  various  Mines :  the  Gould 
&  Curry,  the  Ophir,  the  Chollar-Potosi,  the  Savage,  the  Imperial,  etc. 
—How  they  have  been  Managed— The  Problem  of  their  Future,  and 
its  Probable  Solution, 439 


LETTER    I. 

FROM    MASSACHUSETTS    TO    THE    MISSOURI. 


ATCHISON,  Kansas,  May  21,  1865. 

A  WEEK  of  leisure  traveling  -ends  the  first-  or 
railroad  stage  of  the  great  overland  trip  across 
the  Continent.  It  is  1,425  miles  l>y  rail/md  irorn 
Springfield  to  Atchison,via  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  Chi 
cago,  and  the  Hannibal  -  and  St.  Joseph  Railroad 
through  northern  Missouri.  Here,  the  outmost 
pest  of  our  eastern  railway  system,  we  commence 
a  coach  ride  of  two  thousand  miles  before  we  meet 
the  projecting  arm  of  the  California  railways  at  Pla- 
cerville.  Thence  a  day  takes  us  down  to  San  Fran 
cisco,  and  the  Continent  is  spanned,  the  national 
breadth  is  measured.  How  this  Republic,  saved, 
reunited,  bound  together  as  never  before,  expands 
under  such  personal  passage  and  footstep  tread; 
how  magnificent  its  domain  ;  how  far-reaching  and 
uprising  its  material,  moral  and  political  'possibili 
ties  and  promises!  There  is  no  such  knowledge 
of  the  nation  as  comes  of  traveling  it,  of  seeing 


2  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

eye  to  eye  its  vast  extent,  its  various  and  teeming 
wealth,  and,  above  all,  its  purpose-full  people — grow 
ing  only  greater  in  personal  power  and  activity  as 
they  grow  fewer  in  numbers.  We  think  our  Yan 
kee  leaders  have  active  brains  and  comprehensive 
hands ;  but  the  pioneers  in  the  commerce  and  in 
the  civilization  of  the  West  impress  you  as  men  of 
broader  grasp  and  more  intense  vitality.  The  very 
breadth  of  their  field  expands  them. 

It  is  five  years  since  I  was  last  in  the  West.  Then 
I  came  to  attend  the  Convention  that  nominated  Mr. 
Lincoln  for  President.  How  long  ago  that  seems ! 
How  dim  the  almost  tragic  scenes'and  excitements 
and  struggles  of  the  Wigwam!  Personal  prefer 
ences  'were  lest  atid  won  there,  life-long  ambitions 
\vcrecke.d,,  .new;  combinations  created,  and  old  ones 
'siiatt^Fed:  whose  significance  was  little  understood 
then.  What  century  of  other  history  has  held  such 
revolutions,  has  wrought  such  influences  on  the 
present  and  the  future  of  the  world,  as  these  five 
years !  What  five  years  of  all  life,  of  ours  or  any 
body's  else,  would  you  or  I  exchange  for  even  our 
witness  of  these? 

We  had  an  afternoon  and  evening  in  Cleveland, 
and  a  day  in  Chicago.  I  gathered  new  impressions 
of  the  beauty  of  the  former  city.  No  other  place, 
East  or  West,  unites  such  a  business  street  as  Su 
perior  to  such  a  residence  avenue  as  Euclid.  It  is 
the  gem  of  the  western  cities.  Springfield  has  sim 
ilar  union  of  business  convenience  and  breadth  with 
beautiful  rural  homes;  but  the  scale  is  smaller — 
our  Main  street  is  narrower,  our  Maple  and  Chest- 


CHICAGO    AND    ATCHISON.  3 

nut  shorter  and  less  magnificently  studded  with 
palatial  country  residences. 

Chicago  is  still  great — to  all  Chicagoians.  She 
has  indeed  made  herself  the  commercial  center  of 
all  the  North-west.  Milwaukee  gives  up  the  con 
test,  and  even  her  own  State,  to  her  old  rival ;  and 
St.  Louis  looks  on  with  envy  at  the  more  rapid 
strides  of  the  metropolis  of  the  free*  North-west. 
There  is  less  building  in  progress,  however,  than  I 
ever  have  seen  before,  and  fewer  new  structures  are 
noticed  on  the  business  streets  than  are  usually  ob 
served  between  visits  ;  though  there  be  spots  enough 
still  needing  reconstruction.  Chicago  is  getting  es- 
thetically  ambitious,  however;  she  talks  less  of  cor 
ner  lots  and  corn  and  new  blocks  than  of  yore ;  and 
turns  her  thoughts  more  to  art,  to  literature  and  to 
philanthropy.  Already  with  the  great  journal  of 
the  North-west,  she  is  founding  another,  and  draws 
from  New  York,  in  Mr.  Dana,  to  lead  it,  one  of  the 
most  eclectic  of  American  scholars,  one  of  the  most 
executive  of  American  minds.  Just  now,  too,  she  is 
vain  over  a  new  and  beautiful  opera-house — reared 
from  the  profits  on  alcohol — and  a  season  of  undi 
luted  Italian  opera ;  and  earnest,  moreover,  with  a 
grand  Soldiers'  Fair.  Fitting  it  is  that  Chicago, 
which  led  in  these  monster  fairs  for  the  'benefit  of 
the  army,  should  also  close  their  glorious  and  holy 
procession.  Their  history  is  a  proud  chapter  in  our 
war ;  and  in  it  the  American  women  write  their 
own  nobility  and  patriotism. 

This  border  town  of  Atchison  is  memorable  in 
Kansas  experiences.  It  was  first  settled  and  pos- 


4  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

sessed  by  border  ruffians  of  the  worst  type.  The  fa 
mous  Buford  Company  of  South  Carolinians  made  it 
head-quarters.  Stringfellow  was  its  paterfamilias. 
But  Mr.  Pomeroy,  the  agent  of  the  New  England 
Emigrant  Aid  Company,  finally  got  possession  of  it 
t>y  strategy — he  bought  up  its  newspaper  and  threw 
a  force  of  free  state  men  into  town  during  one  night, 
and  thenceforth  defied  the  old  settlers.  Since  then 
Pomeroy  and  Stringfellow  have  joined  hands,  bought 
up  the  town  as  a  speculation,  and  are  now  growing 
rich  together  by  its  development  and  prosperity. 
Stringfellow  lives  here,  and  has  become  gentlemanly 
and  loyal  since  the  war  broke  out,  and  Pomeroy  is 
United  States  Senator  from  Kansas,  and  also  re 
sides  here  when  not  in  Washington.  The  town  lies 
rather  incoherently  along  some  broken  bluffs  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Missouri  River,  five  hundred 
miles  from  St.  Louis,  about  twenty  above  Leaven- 
worth,  and  the  same  distance  below  St.  Joseph,  the 
metropolis  of  northern  Missouri.  A  railroad  runs 
along  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  and  gives 
communication  with  St.  Joseph  and  Leavenworth. 
Lawrence,  lies  off  to  the  south-west  say  fifty  miles, 
Atchison  being  in  fact  in  the  north-eastern  corner 
of  the  State.  It  is  now  the  starting  point  of  the 
overland  mail  for  the  mining  regions  and  California, 
and  the  head-quarters  of  the  stage  company ;  also 
one  of  the  chief  points  on  the  border  for  the  trans 
shipment,  from  cars  and  steamboats  to  wagons,  of 
goods  of  all  sorts  bound  to  the  mines  of  Colorado, 
Idaho,  Montana,  &c.,  and  the  saints  of  Utah.  Ne 
braska  City,  Omaha,  St.  Joseph,  Leavenworth  and 


FREIGHTING   OVERLAND.  5 

Lawrence  are  rivals  in  this  great  business  of  freight 
ing  to  the  far  West — how  great  nobody  can  realize 
who  does  not  look  upon  it  directly  at  this  the  busy 
season  of  the  year ; — but  Atchison  lies  best  as  to  the 
roads  west,  being  both  upon  the  river,  and,  through 
a  great  bend  in  its  course,  the  most  western  of  any 
town  upon  it,  in  the  State  or  in  Missouri,  and  per 
haps  does  more  of  the  outfitting  and  forwarding 
than  any  other  one  town.  Most  of  the  goods  are 
only  sent  through  the  town,  being  bought  by  the 
shippers  or  territorial  merchants  in  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  St.  Louis  and  Chicago  ;  yet  a  single  firm 
here,  in  a  modest  building,  is  selling  one  million 
dollars  yearly  to  small  traders,  or  to  fill  up  forgotten 
places  in  large  trains.  Long  trains  of  heavily 
loaded  wagons,  drawn  by  mules  and  oxen,  are  mov 
ing  out  daily,  now;  but  immense  warehouses  and 
large  yards  are  still  stored  full  with  massive  ma 
chinery  for  working  the  mines,  and  goods  for  feed 
ing  and  clothing  the  miners,  and  agricultural  imple 
ments  to  cultivate  the  prairies,  waiting  for  their 
turn.  The  mule  trains  have  been  in  progress  for  a 
month,  but  the  ox-teams  have  had  to  wait  till  now, 
so  that  the  animals  could  be  fed  on  the  grass  en 
route.  The  Indians  made  such  havoc  last  year  that 
food  for  man  or  beast  has  been  very  scarce  on  the 
road  across  the  Plains  all  the  winter  and  spring ;  the 
Overland  Stage  and  Mail  Company  has  been  very 
much  crippled  thereby ;  and  the  grain  that  it  is  now 
feeding  out  to  its  horses  on  the  road  has  cost  it,  in 
purchase  and  transportation,  something  like  eight 
dollars  a  bushel,  or  eight  and  ten  cents  a  pound ! 
i* 


6  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Speaker  Colfax  and  his  friends  are  gathered  here 
for  their  long  and  inviting  yet  rather  rough  journey 
to  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  party  embraces  the 
Speaker,  Lieutenant-Governor  Bross  of  Illinois, 
senior  editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  Mr.  Albert 
D.  Richardson  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  and  my 
self.  Mr.  George  K.  Otis  of  New  York,  special 
agent  of  the  Overland  Stage  Line,  accompanies  us  ; 
and  we  have  laid  in  every  possible  mitigation  of  the 
fatigues  and  discomforts  of  the  long  ride.  There 
are  rifles  and  revolvers  for  Indians  and  game ;  sar 
dines  for  those  who  cannot  digest  bacon  ;  segars  for 
the  smoking  Speaker ;  black  tea  for  the  nervous 
newspaper  men  ;  crackers  for  those  fastidious  stom 
achs  that  reject  saleratus  biscuit ;  and  soap  for  those 
so  aristocratic  as  to  insist  on  washing  themselves  en 
route. 

Something  of  fillip  is  given  to  our  ride  by  the 
overland  stage  from  the  West,  due  yesterday  noon, 
coming  in  only  this  morning,  and  with  the  news 
that  it  had  been  attacked  by  the  Indians  about  one 
hundred  and  forty  miles  back,  or  some  half  way  to 
Fort  Kearney.  It  is  the  first  raid  of  the  red-skins 
this  season  ;  and  so  thorough  precautions  had  been 
made  by  General  Connor,  who  has  charge  of  the 
troops  along  the  route,  that  it  \v?s  believed  there 
would  be  no  trouble  ;  the  stages  had  assumed  their 
old  certainty  and  regularity,  came  in  here  every  day 
within  half  an  hour  of  the  schedule  time,  and  left 
precisely  at  eight  every  morning,  and  timed  their 
arrivals  at  the  stations  along  the  route  so  certainly 
that  the  keepers  had  the  meals  all  cooked  and  warm 


INDIANS    ON    OUR    TRACK.  / 

as  the  stages  drove  up,  all  the  way  from  here  to  Salt 
Lake  City.  But  to-day's  news  shows  that  some  of 
the  Indians  had  broken  through  or  run  around  the 
military  lines.  They  commenced  by  ambushing  a 
party  of  some  twelve  to  twenty  soldiers,  mostly  con 
verted  rebels,  on  their  way  up  from  Leavenworth 
to  Fort  Kearney,  but  without  arms.  Two  of  these 
they  killed  outright,  and  most  of  the  rest  they 
wounded  so  savagely  that  they  will  probably  die. 
The  next  day  they  assaulted  the  incoming  stage, 
which  had  some  six  or  eight  passengers,  men,  wo 
men  and  children,  circling  around  and  around  the 
vehicle  on  well-mounted  horses,  and  shooting  their 
arrows  fast  and  sharp — only  one  had  a  musket,  and 
another  a  pistol — at  horses  and  passengers.  The 
horses  were  whipped  up,  the  men  on  the  coach  had 
two  rifles  and  kept  them  in  play,  and  thus  the  In 
dians  were  held  at  bay  until  the  protection  of  a  sta 
tion  and  a  train  was  secured,  when  the  attacking 
party,  finding  themselves  baffled,  retired.  They 
numbered  about  twenty-five  in  all,  and  their  appear 
ance  on  what  was  supposed  to  be  the  safest  part  of 
the  route,  and  the  one  least  protected  by  soldiers, 
has  made  some  excitement. 

Senator  Foster  of  Connecticut,  (Vice-president, 
ex-officio)  and  Senator  Doolittle  of  Wisconsin,  have 
just  started  south-west  on  an  expedition  to  Santa 
Fe  in  New  Mexico.  They  take  a  body  guard  of 
over  one  hundred  cavalrymen,  and  will  sweep  around 
through  Colorado,  across  the  Overland  Route  to  the 
upper  Missouri,  and  come  down  through  Nebraska. 
The  two  Senators  are  a  part  of  a  joint  committee 


8  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT.  % 

of  Congress  to  visit  all  our  Indian  territories,  ex 
amine  into  the  condition  of  the  Indians  and  their 
relations  to  the  whites,  and  report  facts  and  sug 
gestions,  with  a  view  to  a  more  intelligent  and  ef 
fective  Indian  policy.  This  is  the  occasion  of  their 
journey,  the  section  they  are  visiting  being  their 
allotted  space  of  the  committee's  work.  It  is  an 
important,  and,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  prove  a  be 
neficent  mission,  that  is  thus  undertaken.  Who 
ever  shall  discover  and  cause  to  be  put  in  practice 
a  policy  towards  our  Indian  tribes,  that  shall  secure 
protection  alike  to  them  and  the  whites,  and  stop 
indiscriminate  massacre  on  both  sides,  will  prove 
the  greatest  of  national  benefactors.  But  the  al 
most  universal  testimony  of  the  border  men  is  that 
there  can  be  no  terms  made  with  the  Indians — the 
only  wise  policy,  they  aver,  is  extermination.  This 
is  dreadful  if  true ;  and  I  cannot  believe^  it.  The 
Indians  have  great  provocation  for  their  bad  faith 
and  their  massacres  in  our  own  bad  faith  to  them, 
in  the  systematic  manner  they  have  been  plundered 
and  cheated  and  every  way  abused  by  officers  of 
the  government,  and  the  coarsest  of  the  Border 
men.  But  if  the  policy  of  extermination  is  the 
only  possible  one,  the  sooner  it  is  adopted,  and  car 
ried  out,  the  better.  It  is  cruelty  to  all  parties,  it 
is  loss  to  people  and  nation,  to  let  affairs  drift  along 
in  the  present  way,  exposing  settlers  and  travelers 
to  unexpected  assaults  and  robbery,  and  interrupt 
ing  the  course  of  the  subjugation  and  civilization 
of  the  continent. 

The  season  lags,  and  plowing  and  planting  are 


THE    STAGE    STARTS  I     GOOD-BYE.  9 

greatly  belated  in  the  West.  There  is  evident  lack 
of  'labor,  and  nature  kindly  prolongs  the  spring 
time.  A  few  fields  of  corn  are  up  ;  but  more  still 
are  yet  being  plowed.  A  steam  plow,  cheap,  simple, 
but  effective,  is  still  the  great  need  of  our  western 
agriculture,  for  plowing  is  its  greatest,  most  wear 
ing,  most  delaying  burden.  The  other  labor-saving 
machines  are  in  use  to  an  extent  that  would  amaze 
New  England  farmers — planters,  mowers,  reap 
ers  ; — you  see  them  by  the  dozens  in  every  little 
village,  and  they  are  the  prominent  feature  of  freight 
at  the  depots  all  along  the  railroads.  The  "  Buck 
eye  "  is  the  favorite  mower  and  reaper  out  here. 
The  caterpillars  are  ruining  the  orchards  along  our 
route  through  Illinois  and  Missouri  as  painfully  as 
at  the  East,  and  the  farmers  seem  as  indifferent  to 
their  ravages.  It  is  a  sad  sight— a  thrifty  young 
orchard  of  apples,  otherwise,  with  half  its  trees 
stripped  of  all  life  by  these  pests,  and  the  rest 
going  in  the  same  direction. 

But  the  overland  coach  waits  ;  General  Connor 
has  taken  command' of  our  party;  and  so,  dear 
friends  all,  we  sail  out  into  this  vast  ocean  of  land. 
I  shall  think  of  you  with  every  joy,  and,  possibly 
with  selfisfi  longing,  with  every  pain.  Do  you 
think  of  me  when  tbe  June  roses  open,  with  the 
dew  of  July  mornings,  with  the  fragrant  cool  of  an 
Augus^evening  shower,  when  the  katy-dids  sing  in 
September ;  and,  God  willing,  I  shall  be  with  you 
again  ere  the  maples  redden  in  October. 


LETTER    II. 

FROM    THE    MISSOURI    TO    THE    PLATTE. 


FORT  KEARXEY,  Nebraska,  May  24. 

A  TRIFLE  short  of  two  days  has  borne  us  two 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  riding  night  and  day,  to  this 
point  which  is  the  junction  of  the  Omaha,  Nebraska 
City  and  Atchison  roads  for  the  grand  central  Over 
land  Route  to  Colorado  and  Utah  and  the  Pacific  Ter 
ritories.  Our  road  lay  through  the  northern  counties 
o'  Kansas  and  the  southern  of  Nebraska;  across 
the  valleys  of  the  Big  and  Little  Sandy  and  the 
Big  and  Little 'Blue  rivers  ;  and  here  we  strike  the 
Platte  River,  up  which  and  its  southern  branch  we 
continue  til!  we  reach  Denver.  We  ca*me  through 
the  region  of  the  Indian  surprises  and  attacks  of 
last  week,  but  met  no  hostile  red-skin.  We  found 
abundant  evidences,,  however,  of  their 'last  year's 
swoop  through  the  line,  in  ruins  of  houses  and 
barns  which  they  then  burned,  end  stories  of  their 
terrible  massacres.  General  Connor  and  ^s  aid, 
Captain  Jewett,  are  riding  out  with  us  on  their  way 
to  Julesburg,  the  General's  head-quarters,  two  hund 
red  miles  farther  west;  and  through  the  exposed 
parts  of  the  line  we  had,  as  all  the  stages  now  have, 


"GALVANIZED  YANKEES.  II 

a  guard  of  two  to  four  cavalrymen.  A  few  soldiers, 
with  a  half-dozen  cool  and  well-armed  passengers, 
are  always  enough  to  frighten  off  or  drive  away 
any  number  of  Indians  less  than  a  hundred.  The 
red-skin  fights  shy,  and  only  attacks  where  he  is 
sure  of  little  or  no  resistance ;  and  he  is  despised, 
as  a  foe,  by  all  the  military  men  and  old  stagers 
along  the  Biains.  But  the  necessity  of  keeping  up 
steady  mail  and  travel  communication  through  this 
regjpn,  and  of  protecting  the  immense  traffic  in 
provisions,  goods  and  machinery  now  in  progress 
between  the  East  and  far  West,  enforces  upon  the 
government  the  duty  of  placing  a  strong  military 
force  all  along  the  various  leading  roads,  and  then 
of  sending  out  troops  enough  to  drive  the  Indians 
to  the  far  North  and  South,  and  keeping  them  there, 
or  else  of  wholly  exterminating  them. 

Among  the  present  limited  number  of  troops  on 
the  Plain  are  two  regiments  of  infantry,  all  from  the 
rebel  army.  They  have  cheerfully  re-enlisted  into 
the  federal  service.  We  passed  one  of  these  regi 
ments  on  the  road  yesterday,  it  having  just  come 
upon  the  line.  They  were  all  young  but  hardy 
looking  men ;  and  the  Colonel,  who  is  of  course 
from  the  old  fedeial  army,  testified  heartily  to  their 
subordination  and  sympathy  with  their  new  service. 
They  are  known  in  the  army  as  "whitewashed 
rebs,"  or  as  they  call  themselves,  "galvanized  Yan 
kees.'/ 

Aside  from  the  Indfan  question — which,  indeed, 
gave  only  a  pleasant  zest  to  our  progress,  and  taught 
us  novices  at  which  end  to  hold  our  pistols  and 


12  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

rifles, — we  have  had  a  most  delightful  ride  so  far. 
The  weather  has  been  clear  and  warm  ;  the  com 
pany  intelligent  and  good  natured ;  the  food  at 
the  meal  stations  more  excellent  than  that  of  the 
hotels  and  restaurants  on  the  railroads  west  of  Chi 
cago  ;  the  country  and  its  scenes  most  novel  and 
inspiring.  We  drove  at  an  average  of  six  miles  an 
hour,  including  all  stops,  sometimes  Baking  full 
ten  miles  an  hour  on  the  road,  in  an  easy  and  com 
modious  new  Concord  stage,  such  as  are  in  us^  all 
through  this  route,  and  with  horses  as  sprightly  and 
in  as  good  condition  as  you  ever  rode  after  in  the 
good  old  days  of  staging  in  the  Connecticut  River 
valley.  Every  ten  or  twelve  miles  we  come  to  a  sta 
tion,  sometimes  in  a  village  of  log  and  turf  cabins, 
but  oftener  solitary  and  alone,  where  we  change 
horses  ;  and  every  two  or  three  stations,  we  change 
drivers;  but  except  for  meals,  for  which  half  an 
hour  is  allowed,  our  stops  do  not  exceed  five  min 
utes  each. 

The  country  up  to  fifty  miles  of  this  point, 
presents  the  characteristics  of  the  finest  prairie 
scenery  of  the  West — illimitable  stretches  of  ex 
quisite  green  surface,  rolling  like  long  waves  of  the 
sea,  and  broken  at  distances  of  miles  by  an  inter 
vale  with  a  small  stream,  along  whose  banks  are 
scattered  trees  of  elm  and  cotton-wood.  Here  and 
there  is  a  "ranch"  or  farm  with  cultivated  land,  but 
these  grow  rarer  and  rarer — the  uniform  view  is  one 
wide  rolling  prairie,  freshly  green,  spreading  out  as 
far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  with  the  distant  fringe  of 
thin  forest  by  the  water-course,  and  sending  forth 


LIFE    ON    THE    PLAINS.  13 

and  receiving  the  sun  at  morning  and  evening,  as 
the  ocean  seems  to  discharge  and  accept  it  when 
we  travel  its  trackless  space. 

No  land  could  be  richer;  no  sight  could  more 
deeply  impress  you  with  the  measureless  extent  of 
.our  country,  and  its  unimproved  capacities,  than 
that  which  has  been  steadily  before  us  for  these  two 
days.  Within  the  last  fifty  miles,  the  soil  grows 
thinner,  the  grass  less  rich,  the  sand  hills  of  the 
Platte  rise  before  the  eye,  and  Plain,  rather  than 
Prairie,  becomes  the  true  descriptive  name.  The 
streams  are  few  and  scant,  and  the  water  muddy ; 
but  wells  give  good  drinking  water  all  along  the 
route,  though  oftentimes  they  have  to  be  sunk  as 
deep  as  fifty  or  seventy-five  feet.  It  is  too  early  yet 
for  many  of  the  prairie  flowers ;  but  the  rich,  fresh 
green  of  the  grass  satisfies  the  eye.  Scattered 
through  it  we  catch  frequent  glimpses  of  the  prai 
rie  hen,  multiplying  for  the  hunter's  harvest  in  No 
vember  ;  from  its  bare,  last  year's  stalks  floats  out 
the  liquid  music  of  the  larks ;  the  plover,  paired  as 
in  Paradise,  and  never  divorced  even  in  this  west 
ern  country  of  easy  virtue  and  cheap  legislation, 
bob  up  and  down  their  long  necks,  or  flutter  their 
wide  wings  in  flight  at  every  rod ;  little  blackbirds 
accompany  you  in  great  shoals ;  a  lean,  hungry- 
looking  wolf  steals  along  at  a  distance  with  one 
eye  on  you,  and  the  other  on  the  carcass  of  a  horse 
or  ox,  dropped  in  sickness  or  fatigue  from  some 
passing  train ;  away  off  near  the  horizon  scamper 
most  daintily  and  provokingly  a  half-dozen  ante 
lopes — too  near  for  restful  palates,  too  far  for  wait- 


14  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

ing  rifles ;  and  over  all  and  illuminating  all  floats 
an  atmosphere  so  pure,  so  rare,  so  ethereal,  as  pic 
tures  every  object  with  a  pre-Raphaelite  distinct 
ness,  makes  distant  things  appear  near,  and  sends 
the  horizon  far  away  in  an  unbounded  stretch  of 
slightly  rounding  green  earth.  Add  to  these  a  con 
stant  breeze,  tempering  the  sun  to  a  most  grateful 
softness,  and  bearing  an  inspiring  tonic  to  lungs 
and  heart ;  sunsets  and  sunrises  that  rival  Italy  or 
the  Connecticut  valley ;  a  twilight  prolonged  as  in 
England ;  and  a  dryness  and  purity  to  the  atmos 
phere,  that  you  certainly  know  not  in  New  England, 
and  guards  the  most  exposed  against  colds, — and 
you  may  form  some  idea  of  the  life  of  our  senses 
and  sensibilities  so  far  on  this  excursion. 

But  I  omit  one  great  feature  in  the  constant  land 
scape — the  long  trains  of  wagons  and  carts,  with 
their  teams  of  mules  and  oxen,  passing  to  and  fro 
on  the  road,  going  in  empty,  coming  out  laden  with 
corn  for  man  and  beast,  with  machinery  for  the 
mining  regions,  with  clothing,  food  and  luxuries  for 
the  accumulating  populations  of  Colorado,  Utah 
and  Montana, — for  all  these  territories  and  the  in 
termediate  populations  draw  their  supplies  from  this 
quarter,  and  not  from  the  California  shore.  The 
wagons  are  covered  with  white  cloth ;  each  is  drawn 
by  four  to  six  pairs  of  mules  or  oxen ;  and  the  trains 
of  them  stretch  frequently  from  one-quarter  to  one- 
third  of  a  mile  each.  As  they  move  along  in  the 
distance,  they  remind  one  of  the  caravans  described 
in  the  Bible  and  other  Eastern  books.  Turned  out 
of  the  road  on  the  green  prairie,  for  afternoon  rest 


A   STORM   ON   THE    PLAINS.  15 

or  a  night's  repose,  the  wagons  drawn  around  in  a 
circle,  as  a  sort  of  barricade  against  Indians  or  pro 
tection  against  storm,  and  the  animals  turned  loose 
to  feed,  and  wandering  over  the  rounding  prairie 
for  a  mile — "cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills  ; "  at  night 
their  camp  fires  burning ; — in  any  position,  or  under 
.  any  aspect,  they  present  a  picture  most  unique  and 
impressive,  indeed.  I  have  seen  nothing  like  it  be 
fore;  and  it  summons  up  many  a  memory  of  ori 
ental  reading.  Just  now,  these  trains  are  moving 
more  compactly  than  usual,  for  protection  against 
Indian  attacks ;  but  their  numbers  and  the  amount 
of  goods  they  are  hauling,  give  you  an  idea  of  the 
magnitude  and  importance  of  the  commerce  across 
these  Plains,  that  neither  bare  figures,  nor  parts  of 
speech  can  impart.  The  mule  trains  make  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  miles  a  day ;  and.  the  oxen  about 
twelve  to  fifteen.  They  depend  entirely  upon  the 
prairies  for  food  as  they  go  along ;  and  indeed  the 
animals  grow  strpnger  and  fatter  as  they  move  on 
in  their  summer  campaign  of  work,  coming  out  of 
their  winter  rest  poor  and  scrawny,  and  going  back 
into  it  in  the  fall,  fat  and  hearty. 

The  chief  sensation  and  experience  of  our  ride 
so  far  was  a  storm  of  thunder  and  lightning,  hail 
and  rain,  upon  the  Plains.  Such  storms  are  mem 
orable  in  all  travel  or  life  in  this  country  for  se 
verity  ;  and  we  had  one  of  the  very  best  of  them. 
It  struck  us  this  morning,  about  six  miles  back, 
and  just  as  we  had  come  to  the  banks  of  the  Platte. 
First  came  huge,  rolling,  ponderous  masses  of  cloud 
in  the  west,  massing  up  and  separating  into  sections 


l6  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

in  a  more  majestic  and  threatening  style  than  our 
party  had  ever  before  seen  in  the  heavens.  Then 
followed  a  tornado  of  wind.  Horses,  coach  and  es 
cort  turned  their  backs  to  the  breeze,  and  bending, 
awaited  its  passing.  It  stripped  us  of  every  loose 
bit  of  baggage ;  and  we  sent  out  scouts  for  their 
recovery.  Next  fell  the  hail,  pouring  as  swift  rain, 
and  as  large  and  heavy  as  bullets.  The  horses 
quailed  before  its  terrible  pain.  Our  splendid  quar 
tette  of  blacks  careered  and  started  over  the  prai 
rie  ;  we  tumbled  out  of  the  coach  to  save  ourselves 
one  peril,  and  so  met  the  other — the  fire  of  the 
heavenly  hail ;  it  bit  like  wasps,  it  stunned  like 
blows.  But  horses  and  coach  were  to  be  saved; 
and  after  a  long  struggle,  in  which  the  coach  came 
near  overturning,  and  the  horses  to  running  away, 
in  dismay  and  fright,  and  our  driver  and  military 
friends  proved  themselves  real  heroes,  and  every 
body  got  wet,  the  hail  subsided  into  a  pouring  rain, 
the  horses  were  quieted  and  restored  to  their  places, 
and  we  got  into  a  drowned  coach,  ourselves  like 
drowned  rats,  and  hastened  to  refuge,  over  a  prairie 
flooded  with  water,  in  this  hospitable  station.  We 
are  remaining  here  a  few  hours  to  dry  our  clothes 
and  baggage,  receive  and  send  dispatches,  see  the 
quarters  of  the  military  establishment,  over  which 
Colonel  Livingston  presides,  and  put  ourselves  in 
order  for  another  two  days'  ride  to  Julesburg,  half 
way  to  our  first  grand  destination  at  Denver. 

Speaker  Colfax  is  receiving  every  attention  pos 
sible  from  such  people  as  there  are  along  this  line ; 
everybody  seems  to  know  him — many  to  be  his  old 


THE    GRAND    RIDE    A   TRIUMPH.  I/ 

personal  friends  in  Indiana;  the  stage  proprietors 
and  their  agents  are  extending  to  him  and  his  party 
every  hospitality  and  courtesy ;  and  the  military  offi 
cials  only  such  protection  as  they  are  now  accord 
ing  to  all  passengers,  and  such  politeness  as  their 
good  breeding  is  sure  to  suggest.  For  myself,  I 
enjoy  the  grand  ride  much  better  than  I  expected; 
but  for  the  remaining  twinges  of  sciatica,  it  would 
be  unalloyed  pleasure ;  and  the  anticipated  sleepless 
night  rides  prove  but  small  inconvenience. 

2*  2 


LETTER    III. 

THROUGH    THE    PLAINS    TO    THE    MOUNTAINS. 


DENVER,  Colorado,  May  29. 

OUR  coach  rolled  into  this  town,  the  leading  one 
of  Colorado  Territory,  and  lying  under  the  very 
shadow  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  on  Saturday  noon, 
exactly  "on  time,"  and  in  less  than  five  days  from 
the  Missouri  River.  It  was  a  magnificent,  uninter 
rupted  stage  ride  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
much  more  endurable  in  its  discomforts,  much  more 
exhilarating  in  its  novelties,  than  I  had  anticipated. 
From  Fort  Kearney,  where  we  struck  the  Platte 
River,  and  finished  the  first  third  of  the  distance, 
we  found  the  soil  growing  thinner  and  thinner ;  the 
sand  hills  rose  and  rolled  away  in  regular  serial 
form,  north  and  south;  and  we  passed  on  to  and 
through  the  great  Central  Desert  of  the  Continent, 
stretching  from  the  far  distant  north  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  separating  by  four  hundred  miles 
of  almost  uninhabitable  space  the  agriculturally 
rich  prairies  of  the  Mississippi  valley,  from  the  min- 
erally  rich  slopes  and  valleys  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains.  Yet  not  a  desert,  as  such  is  commonly  in 
terpreted — not  worthless,  by  any  means.  The  soil 


THE    SOIL    OF    THE    PLAINS.  IQ 

is  fat,  indeed,  compared  with  your  New  England 
pine  plains.  It  yields  a  coarse  and  thin  grass  that, 
green  or  dry,  makes  the  best  food  for  cattle  that  the 
Continent  offers.  It  is,  indeed,  the  great  Pasture  of 
the  nation.  This  is  its  present  use  and  its  future 
profit.  Now  it  supports  the  machinery  of  the  com 
merce  of  the  two  great  wings  of 'the  nation,  that  it 
both  separates  and  connects.  Then- — when  -rail 
road  shall  supersede  cattle  and  mules — it  will  feed 
us  with  beef  and  mutton,  and  give  wool  and  leather 
immeasurable.  Let  us,  then,  not  despise  the  Plains ; 
but  turn  their  capacities  to  best  account. 

The  Platte  is  a  broad,  shallow  but  swift  river,  fur 
nishing  abundant  good  water  for  drinking  and  for 
limited  irrigation,  but  offering  no  possibilities  of 
navigation — not  even  for  ferriage.  When  it  is  too 
swift  and  strong  for  fording,  it  must  be  let  alone, 
and  a  route  on  either  shore  kept,  or  the  falling  wa 
ters  waited  for.  The  soil  of  the  valley  and  of  the 
Plains,  which  it  crosses,  is  not  by  any  means  mere 
sand,  but  rather  a  tough,  cold,  sandy  loam,  with  an 
admixture  of  clay.  It  is  too  cold  and  dry  for  corn 
and  vegetables.  Wheat  and  barley  may  be  raised 
on  its  best  acres,  with  the  help  sometimes  of  a  sim 
ple  irrigation ;  but  the  pasture  is  its  manifest  des 
tiny  and  use.  There  is  a  steady,  imperceptible  rise 
from  the  Missouri  to  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  half 
way,  we  get  above  the  dew-falling  point ;  and  here 
at  Denver,  at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  we  are  five 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  days 
are  warm,  however;  the  sun  pours  down  over  its 
shadeless  level  with  a  hot,  burning  power;  but  a 


2O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

cool  wind  tempers  its  bitterness,  and  at  night  the 
air  is  absolutely  cold.  This  is  the  universal  rule  of 
all  our  western  country,  beyond  the  Mississippi  val 
ley,  and  distinguishes  the  summers  of  its  whole  ex 
tent  from  those  of  the  East. 

This  valley  of  the  Platte,  through  these  Plains, 
is  the  natural  highway  across  the  Continent.  Other 
valleys  and  routes  have  similar  advantages,  but  in 
minor  degree :  this  unites  the  most ;  for  it  is  cen 
tral — it  is  on  the  line  of  our  great  cities  and  our 
great  industries,  East  and  West,  and  it  is  the  long 
est,  most  continuous.  A  smooth,  hard  stage  road 
is  made  by  simply  driving  over  it ;  a  railroad  awaits 
only  sleepers  and  rails.  Here  and  there,  at  rare  in 
tervals,  is  a  gully  or  dry  creek  or  petty  stream  to 
cross ;  but  this,  the  longest  and  best  stage  road  in 
the  world,  has  not  to-day  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of 
simplest  bridging;  and  a  railroad  of  six  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  would  not  need  a  mile.  There  is  an 
occasional  stretch  of  heavy  sand ;  after  a  rain  also 
of  .temporary  mud ;  but  at  this  season  of  the  year  a 
speed  of  ten  miles  an  hour  could  easily  be  attained 
by  horses,  with  proper  relays  and  a  light  load, 
throughout  the  whole  distance.  This  would  reduce 
the  transit  to  three  days ;  but  with  ponderous  mails, 
a  heavy  coach,  and  six  to  fourteen  passengers,  the 
five  days  occupied  in  the  journey  constitutes  a  great 
triumph  of  stage  management  and  horse-flesh  ca 
pacity. 

The  region  is  substantially  uninhabitable ;  every 
ten  or  fifteen  miles  is  a  stable  of  the  stage  proprie 
tor,  and  every  other  ten  or  fifteen  miles  an  eating- 


WHAT   WE    HAD    TO   EAT.  21 

house;  perhaps  as  often  a  petty  ranch  or  farm 
house,  whose  owner  lives  by  selling  hay  to  the 
trains  of  emigrants  or  freighters ;  every  fifty  or 
one  hundred  miles  you  will  find  a  small  grocery 
and  blacksmith  shop ;  and  about  as  frequently  is  a 
military  station  with  a  company  or  two  of  United 
States  troops  for  protection  against  the  Indians.. 
This  makes  up  all  the  civilization  of  the  Plains. 
The  barns  and  houses  are  of  logs  or  prairie  turf, 
piled  up  layer  on  layer,  and  smeared  over  or  between 
with  a  clayey  mud.  The  turf  and  mud  make  the 
best  houses,  and  the  same  material  is  used  for  mil 
itary  forts  and  for  fences  around  the  cattle  and 
horse  yards.  Their  roofs,  where  covered,  are  a  foot 
thickness  of  turfs,  sand,  clay,  and  logs  or  twigs, 
with  an  occasional  inside  lining  of  skins  or  thick 
cloth.  Floors  are  oftenest  such  as  nature  offers 
only ;  and,  as  at  some  of  the  Washington  hotels,  the 
spoons  at  the  table  do  not  always  go  around.  Mex 
ican  terms  prevail :  an  inclosure  for  animals  is  called 
a  "corral ;"  a  house  of  turf  and  mud  is  of  "adobe;" 
and  a  farm-house  or  farm  a  "ranch." 

Our  meals  at  the  stage  stations  continued  very 
good  throughout  the  ride ;  the  staples  were  bacon, 
eggs,  hot  biscuit,  green  tea  and  coffee ;  dried  peaches 
and  apples,  and  pies  were  as  uniform  ;  beef  was  oc 
casional,  and  canned  fruits  and  vegetables  were  fur 
nished  at  least  half  of  the  time.  Each  meal  was  the 
same ;  breakfast,  dinner  and  supper  were  undistin- 
guishable  save  by  the  hour ;  and  the  price  was  one 
dollar  or  one  dollar  and  a  half  each.  The  devasta 
tions  of  the  Indians  last  summer  and  fall,  and  the 


22  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

fear  of  their  repetition,  form  the  occasion  and  excuse 
for  enormous  prices  for  everything  now  upon  the 
Plains  and  ki  the  Territories  on  this  side  the  moun 
tains.  Twenty-five  cents  a  pound  has  been  charged 
the  past  year  for  transporting  any  sort  of  goods. 
The  government  and  the  stage  company  have  paid 
ten  and  twelve  dollars  a  bushel  for  corn,  all  of  which 
has  to  be  brought  up  from  the  Missouri  and  Missis 
sippi  valleys,  and  from  seventy-five  to  one  hund 
red  dollars  a  ton  for  hay.  But  General  Connor 
means  to  emancipate  himself  from  the  hay  specu 
lators  hereafter ;  he  has  bought  twenty-five  mowing 
machines,  which  are  to  be  distributed  among  the 
military  stations,  and  used  by  the  soldiers  upon  the 
generous  common  grass  of  the  river  bottoms  for 
gathering  a  winter  supply  of  hay.  The  stage  com 
pany  is  also  pursuing  the  same  policy.  Wood  costs 
on  the  Plains  seventy-five  dollars  a  cord,  so  distant 
are  the  thin  forests  that  furnish  it ;  lumber,  when  it 
is  used  at  all,  which  is  rarely,  for  ij  must  be  freighted 
from  one  end  or  the  other  of  the  route,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  to  two  hundred  dollars  a  thousand ;  a 
wagon  and  team  of  oxen  (five  pairs)  twenty  to 
twenty-five  dollars  a  day ;  common  labor  two  and 
three  dollars  a  day  and  board.  And  at  Denver, 
the  end  of  the  route,  here  is  a  specimen  of  the  prices 
to-day :  potatoes  twenty-five  cents  a  pound  or  fifteen 
dollars  a  bushel;  flour  fifteen  and  twenty  cents  a 
pound ;  corn  eighteen  cents  a  pound  or  ten  dollars 
a  bushel;  mechanics  and  laborers  eight  and  ten 
dollars  a  day ;  beef  forty  cents  a  pound,  and  hams 
forty-five  to  fifty  cents ;  girls  as  house  servants  ten 


SCENES    BY    THE    ROADSIDE.  23 

dollars  a  week.  These  rates  are  likely  to  be  cut 
down  one  third  or  one  half  during  the  present  sea 
son,  however,  as  General  Connor  gives  security  to 
transportation  across  the  Plains,  and  competition  in 
freighting  and  merchandising  works  its  legitimate 
influences. 

The  ride  from  Fort  Kearney  gave  us  but  few  new 
experiences.  The  "noble  red  man"  disappointed 
both  fear  and  hope.  He  gave  us  a  wide  berth; 
perhaps  he  had  intuitive  knowledge  of  our  brave 
hearts  and  our  innumerable  Colts',  Smith  &  Wes 
sons',  Remingtons',  Ballards',  and  double-barreled 
shot-guns — certainly  we  bristled  with  the  munitions 
of  war  like  a  fortification  prepared  for  assault ;  more 
likely  he  saw  the  four  cavalrymen  that  constantly 
galloped  by  our  side  from  station  to  station,  with 
pistols  at  holsters  and  rifles  slung  in  the  saddles, — 
for  bloodthirsty  as  our  red  brethren  are,  when  de 
fenseless  men  or  women  or  children  come  in  their 
way,  they  have  a  holy  horror  of  well-armed  soldiers, 
breech-loading  rifles,  and  magazine  pistols.  They 
easily  learn  and  most  faithfully  practise  the  maxim 
of  civilization,  that  discretion  is  the  better  part  of 
valor. 

Animal  and  vegetable  life,  too,  grew  scantier ;  the 
antelope  eluded  all  rifle  shot ;  only  a  prairie  hen  was 
brought  down;  we  were  too  early  for  the  buffalo, 
and  not  one  crossed  our  path :  as  the  Plains  grew 
more  barren,  the  prickly  pear  and  the  sage  bush 
became  plenty  in  their  tough  unfruitfulness ;  the 
road  was  marked  more  frequently  with  the  carcasses 
of  oxen  and  horses — scarcely  ever  were  we  out  of 


24  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

sight  of  their  bleaching  bones  ;  occasionally  the  pa 
thos  of  a  human  grave  gave  a  deeper  touch  to  our 
thoughts  of  death  upon  the  Plains,  deepened,  toe, 
by  the  knowledge  that  the  wolf  would  soon  violate 
its  sanctity,  and  scatter  the  sacred  bones  of  father, 
mother  or  child  over  the  waste  prairie  ; — the  wiser 
instinct  of  the  Indian  showed  itself,  once  in  a  while, 
in  the  sepulture  of  their  kindred  above  ground — 
for,  rolling  his  dead  in  a  blanket,  he  places  the  body 
in  mid-air  between  two  forked  poles,  six  or  eight 
feet  high,  and  so,  if  not  poised  for  an  upward  flight, 
at  least  safe  from  Vulture  profanation ; — and  anon  we 
grew  gay  over  the  lively  little  prairie  dogs,  looking 
half  rat  and  half  squirrel,  as  they  scampered  through 
the  grass  or  dove,  with  a  low,  chirruping  bark,  back 
into  their  holes.  These  animals  are  smaller  and 
more  contemptible  than  I  had  expected ;  their  holes, 
marked  by  a  hillock  of  sand,  are  congregated  in 
villages,  sometimes  extending  a  quarter  or  half  a 
mile  along  the  roadside.  Only  a  pair  occupy  each 
hole,  but  we  hear  the  same  story,  that  earlier  trav 
elers  record  for  us,  that  a  snake  and  an  owl  share 
their  homes  with  them.  The  snakes  we  did  not 
see ;  but  the  owl,  a  species  no  larger  than  a  robin, 
solemn,  stiff  and  straight,  stood  guard  at  many  of 
the  holes. 

We  passed  through  an  alkali  region,  where  the 
soil  for  two  or  three  feet  seemed  saturated  with  soda, 
and  so  poisons  the  fallen  water  that,  if  drank  by 
man  or  beast  after  a  shower,  it  is  sure  to  be  fatal. 
All  the  water  of  this  region  and  the  Plains  has  a 
savor  of  alkali  or  sulphur  in  it,  but  not  to  an  un- 


25 

healthy  degree.  We  stopped  at  Fremont  Spring, 
named  for  its  discovery  and  use  by  the  great  ex 
plorer,  on  his  original  trip  through  this  region,  and 
found  it  pure,  sweet  water,  slightly  marked  with 
sulphur.  We  were  not  without  our  daily  paper ;  for 
we  stopped  the  incoming  stage  and  had  the  latest 
California  journals,  but,  though  they  gave  us  fresh 
news  from  the  Pacific  shore,  their  eastern  intelli 
gence  was  indeed  a  twice-told  tale.  At  the  tele 
graph  stations,  however, — for  those  bare  but  won 
der-working  poles  and  wires  ran  in  sight  all  along 
the  road,  and  kept  us  in  their  mysterious  sympathy 
with  friends  and  home, — we  had  a  special  privilege 
of  reading  the  news  as  it  ran  East  and  West,  and 
so  we  were  up  with  the  world,  though  so  far  out  of 
it  in  all  material  circumstance. 

We  dropped  General  Connor,  who  had  been  our 
fellow  passenger  from  Atchison,  early  Friday  morn 
ing,  at  Julesburg,  where  he  has  his  head-quarters  for 
the  summer,  and  where  the  Platte  River  forks,  one 
branch  extending  north  to  Fort  Laramie  and  the 
South  Pass  through  the  mountains,  and  the  other 
marking  our  southerly  line  to  Denver.  Julesburg 
is  only  a  village  of  tents  and  turf  forts  and  barns, 
affording  no  facilities  for  a  luxurious  military  life ; 
but  it  is  well  located  for  General  Connor's  plans  for 
protecting  the  commerce  of  the  Plains  from  the  In 
dians,  and  for  punishing  them  for  their  past  offenses 
and  present  threatenings  against  it.  We  took  a 
parting  breakfast  with  him  in  camp,  just  at  sunrise, 
eating  canned  chicken  and  oysters  off  tin  plates, 
and  drinking  our  coffee  with  the  brownest  of  sugar 


26  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

and  the  most  concentrated  of  milk,  all  in  the  sim 
plest  and  most  barren  of  border  life.  But  we  parted 
from  him  with  real  regret  and  a  large  respect.  He 
had  shown  himself  to  us  both  a  genuine  gentleman 
and  a  valuable  commandant ;  and  we  found  reason 
in  our  personal  acquaintance  to  confirm  the  judg 
ment  of  the  people  of  all  this  region,  that  he  is  of 
all  men,  whom  the  government  has  assigned  to  the 
duty,  the  most  fit  and  efficient  for  restraining  the 
Indians,  for  protecting  and  developing  the  interests 
of  government  and  people,  for  settling  the  Mormon 
problem,  for  giving  order  and  unity  to  the  incoher 
ent  and  chaotic  social  and  material  life  of  all  this 
vast  region. 

General  Connor  has  been  for  two  years  in  com 
mand  at  Utah,  and  of  his  administration  there  and 
his  views  of  the  Mormons,  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
speak  when  I  am  on  the  spot.  It  is  only  two 
months  since  he  had  assigned  to  him,  also,  the  pro 
tection  of  the  Overland  Routes  across  the  Plains; 
but  everybody  hereabouts  notes  with  pride  and  con 
fidence  the  change  already  introduced.  The  sol 
diers  have  ceased  to  be  thieves  and  bullies ;  a  new 
and  better  social  tone  is  visible  in  all  the  mining  re 
gion  ;  the  laws  are  better  respected ;  soldiers  guard 
the  whole  central  line  of  travel,  and  cavalrymen 
escort  every  stage — there  is  no  longer  any  leal  dan 
ger,  or  will  not  be,  so  soon  as  a  few  more  troops  can 
be  put  in  their  places,  in  traveling  or  freighting 
over  the  main  road  from  the  river  to  the  mountains ; 
the  Indians  will  speedily  be  driven  back  to  their  res- 
ervations/and  forced  to  submit  to  whatever  terms  the 


GENERAL    CONNOR  S    PERSONAL    HISTORY.         27 

government  may  dictate ;  prices  will  fall  along  the 
Plains  and  in  the  Territories  on  the  eastern  slopes 
of  the  mountains ;  and  all  the  business  of  this  vast 
and  rich  region  will  receive,  under  certainty  and 
safety,  an  impetus,  and  gain  an  uniformity,  that  have 
never  before  marked  their  history.  Whether  the  In 
dians  shall  be  wholly  exterminated ;  or  forced  into 
submission  and  half  civilization  in  limited  territo 
ries,  undisputed  for  the  present  by  the  white;  or 
set  to  work  upon  the  Pacific  Railroad — these  are 
not  points  for  General  Connor  to  decide.  The 
choice  belongs  to  the  government  at  Washington. 
But  General  Connor  will  certainly  restrain  them 
from  violence,  and  punish  them  for  their  barbarities. 
He  believes  they  may  be  made  useful  in  building 
the  Pacific  Railroad ;  and  he  has  proposed  to  fur 
nish  two  thousand  of  one  or  two  tribes,  who  have 
already  submitted  to  his  authority,  and  whom  he  is 
now  supporting  at  an  enormous  expense  far  distant 
from  his  base  of  supplies,  to  the  railroad  company 
for  an  experiment. 

General  Connor  has  a  personal  history  character 
istic  of  America.  He  was  born  in  Ireland,  came 
early  to  New  York  with  his  parents,  enlisted  in  the 
United  States  cavalry,  when  a  young  man,  for  ser 
vice  in  our  Indian  territory,  served  out  his  regular 
term,  lived  in  Texas,  rejoined  the  army  during  the 
Mexican  war,  and  became  a  captain,  removed  to 
California,  prospered  in  business  as  a  farmer  and 
otherwise,  again  took  up  arms  for  his  country  when 
the  rebellion  broke  out,  and  was  appointed  colonel 
of  a  California  regiment,  and  thence,  by  his  well- 


28  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

recognized  experience  and  his  services  in  this  re 
gion,  was  advanced  to  a  brigadiership,  and  assigned, 
some  two  or  three  years  ago,  to  the  command  of 
the  military  district  of  Utah.  He  is  an  intelligent 
and  accomplished  gentleman,  in  the  prime  of  life 
and  power,  strict  in  discipline,  clear  and  strong  in 
thought  and  in  its  expression;  and  if  willing  to 
continue  in  the  service,  as  I  am  sure  the  govern 
ment  ought  to  be  most  earnest  to  have  him,  and 
sustained  in  his  policy,  he  will  most  honorably  and 
usefully  connect  his  name  with  the  disposition  of 
the  two  great  questions  of  our  national  responsi 
bility  and  duty  in  this  quarter — the  Mormons  and 
the  Indians.  Twenty-five  years  ago,  General  Con 
nor  left  Fort  Leavenworth,  on  the  Missouri  River, 
a  private  in  the  United  States  regular  army.  Last 
week  he  visited  it  a  second  time,  a  Brigadier-gen 
eral  and  the  Commander  of  the  District  of  the 
Plains,  comprising  a  larger  territory,  and  embracing 
more  delicate  and  important  responsibilities  than 
any  other  single  military  district  in  the  country. 
The  contrast  of  the  two  facts  tells  the  whole  story 
of  his  character  and  his  history,  and  sustains  my 
judgment  of  him. 

The  reception  of  Speaker  Colfax  and  his  party  on 
their  arrival  here  was  very  enthusiastic  and  flatter 
ing.  They  were  met  and  welcomed  by  Governor 
Evans  and  other  territorial  officers  and  a  committee 
of  the  citizens  of  Denver ;  in  the  evening  there  was 
a  large  popular  gathering  to  pay  personal  respect  to 
the  visitors ;  and  Mr.  Colfax,  Mr.  Bross,  and  Mr. 
Richardson  made  eloquent  and  effective  speeches. 


29 

Mr.  Colfax  was  especially  happy  and  felicitous ;  pub 
lic  speaking  is"  as  natural  and  easy  to  him  as  swim 
ming  to  a  duck;  and  he  repeated  President  Lin 
coln's  parting  suggestions  and  messages  to  the  mi 
ners  with  pathetic  fidelity,  and  they  were  received 
with  mournful  interest  and  deep  pleasure.  Public 
and  private  courtesies  are  showered  upon  him  and 
his  friends.  They  start  this  morning  for  a  visit  to 
the  mines  and  the  mountains,  which  will  occupy 
four  days,  when  they  will  return  here,  and  again  take 
up  their  progress  westward,  in  the  long  ride  to  Utah, 
next  Saturday.  They  are  all  in  good  health  and 
the  best  of  spirits — not  alcoholic — and  very  glad 
they  came ;  especially  your  s.  B. 

3*. 


LETTER    IV. 

THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS  AND  THEIR  GOLD  MINES. 


DENVER,  Colorado,  June  2. 

WE  have  been  spending  an  interesting  week 
among  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  riding*  and  driving 
up  and  down  their  rugged  sides,  through  their  nar 
row  valleys,  and  over  their  occasional  plains ;  ford 
ing  their  turbulent  streams ;  gazing  with  never- 
ceasing  delight  upon  their  various  forms  of  beauty, 
under  cloud  and  storm  and  sunshine,  their  snow 
capped  peaks,  their  deep  ravines  and  narrow  gorges, 
their  purpling,  shadowed  sides  and  tops,  their  high 
pinnacles  of  rock,  monuments  of  Creation  and  His 
tory;  and  then,  descending  into  the  golden  mines, 
following  tortuous  veins  of  precious  rock,  hundreds 
of  feet  beneath  the  surface,  tracing  the  specks  of 
gold  among  the  comparative  dross  of  iron  and  cop 
per  and  lead,  hobnobbing  with  the  dusty  miners  in 
their  dreary  workshops,  faintly  illuminated  with  oc 
casional  candles,  and  then,  ascending  to  day  and 
light  again,  watching  the  processes  for  extracting 
the  wealth  from  the  ore, — the  irresistible  grinding 
of  the  stamps,  the  washing  with  much  water,  the 
securing  with  copper  and  mercury,  the  after-delay- 


THE  ROCKY  MOUNTAINS  VS.  THE  ALPS.     3! 

ing  with  blankets :  all  the  rarest  wonders  and  beau 
ties  of  Nature,  all  the  divinest  patience  of  Labor 
and  the  faith  of  Knowledge,  all  the  mysteries  of 
Science  and  the  intricacies  of  Art  have  been  spread 
before  us  during  these  crowded  days  among  the 
mines  and  the  mountains  of  Colorado. 

How  the  mind  runs  back  to  one's  youthful,  vague, 
mythical  knowledge  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  in 
their  actual  presence !  How  difficult  to  realize  that, 
whereas,  twenty  years  ago,  they  and  their  location 
and  character  and  the  region  about  them  were  al 
most  unknown,  now,  two  weeks  from  home,  I  am 
sporting  familiarly  under  their  shadows,  following 
tediously  up  their  sides,  galloping  in  the  saddle 
around  their  summits,  drinking  from  their  streams, 
playing  snow-ball  in  June  with  their  imperishable 
snow  banks,  descending  into  their  very  bowels,  and 
finding  companionship  and  society  as  various  and 
as  cultured  and  as  organized  as  in  New  England ; 
cities  of  thousands  of  inhabitants,  not  only  at  their 
base,  but  away  up  in  their  narrow  valleys,  eight  and 
nine  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  level!  All  this 
seems  dream-like,  yet  weary  head  and  sore  feet  and 
stern  statistics  testify  to  the  reality. 

As  to  the  mountains,  as  a  natural  spectacle,  they 
are  first  cousins  to  the  Alps.  When  the  Pacific 
Railroad  is  done,  our  Switzerland  will  be  at  our  very 
doors.  All  my  many  and  various  wanderings  in  the 
European  Switzerland,  three  summers  ago,  spread 
before  my  eye  no  panorama  of  mountain  beauty 
surpassing,  nay  none  equaling,  that  which  burst 
upon  my  sight  at  sunrise  upon  the  Plains,  when 


32  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

fifty  miles  away  from  Denver;  and  which  rises  up 
before  me  now  as  I  sit  writing  by  the  window  in 
this  city.  From  far  south  to  far  north,  stretching 
around  in  huge  semi-circle,  rise  the  everlasting  hills, 
one  upon  another,  one  after  another,  tortuous,  pre 
senting  every  variety  of  form  and  surface,  every 
shade  of  cover  and  color,  up  and  on  until  we  reach 
the  broad,  snow-covered  range  that  marks  the  high 
est  summits,  and  tells  where  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
meet  and  divide  for  their  long  journey  to  their  far 
distant  shores.  To  the  North  rises  the  king  of  the 
range,  Long's  Peak,  whose  top  is  fourteen  thousand 
six  hundred  feet  high  ;  to  the  South,  giving  source 
to  the  Arkansas  and  Colorado,  looms  up  its  brother, 
Pike's  Peak,  to  the  hight  of  thirteen  thousand  four 
hundred  feet.  These  are  the  salient  features  of  the 
belt  before  us  ;  but  the  intervening  and  succeeding 
summits  are  scarcely  less  commanding,  and  not 
much  lower  in  hight.  Right  up  from  Denver  stands 
the  mountain  top  that  was  the  scene  of  Bierstadt's 
"  Storm  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,"  and  up  and  down 
these  mountain  sides  were  taken  many  of  the  stud 
ies  that  he  is  reproducing  on  canvas  with  such  de 
light  {p  his  friends  and  fame  for  himself.  No  town 
that  I  know  of  in  all  the  world  has  such  a  panorama 
of  perpetual  beauty  spread  before  it  as  Denver  has 
in  this  best  and  broadest  belt  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains,  that  rises  up  from  the  valley  in  which  it  is 
built,  and  winds  away  to  the  right  and  to  the  left 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  see — fields  and  woods  and' 
rocks  and  snow,  mounting  and  melting  away  to  the 
sky  in  a  line  often  indistinguishable,  and  sending 


THE    COLORADO    GOLD    MINES.  33 

back  the  rays  of  the  sun  in  colors  and  shapes  that 
paint  and  pencil  never  reproduced,  that  poetry  never 
described.  These  are  sights  that  the  eye  never  tires 
of — these  are  visions  that  clear  the  heart  of  earthly 
sorrow,  and  lead  the  soul  up  to  its  best  and  highest 
sources. 

Leaving  nature  for  the  material,  beauty  for  booty, 
fancy  for  fact,  I  come  to  speak  of  the  mineral  wealth 
and  development  of  this  section  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  And,  unless  I  deny  the  evidence  of 
the  senses,  and  the  testimony  of  experience  and 
knowledge,  I  must  coincide  in  the  inexhaustibleness 
of  the  one  and  the  wonderfulness  of  the  other. 
This  whole  vast  range  of  mountains,  that  divides 
our  Continent,  seems  indeed  crowded  with  veins  of 
rich  mineral  ore.  They  run  into  and  through  the 
hill-sides  as  the  bars  of  a  gridiron, — every  hundred 
feet,  every  fifty  feet,  every  twenty  feet.  There  is 
no  end  to  them  in  number ;  there  is  no  apparent 
limit  to  their  depth ;  one  hundred  feet,  three  hund 
red  feet,  and  four  hundred  feet  have  the  miners 
sunk  shafts,  and  did  we  descend,  but  the  veins  of 
ore  hold  their  course  and  their  richness  undimin- 
ished,  oftenest  enlarged. 

The  chiefest  development  of  these  mines  in  this 
territory  lies  along  and  up  the  Clear  Creek,  and  cen 
ters  around  its  sources  some  forty  miles  up  and  in 
the  mountains  west  from  Denver.  Here,  along  the 
creek  and  some  narrow  gulches  leading  into  it,  within 
the  space  of  five  miles,  is  gathered  a  population  of 
some  six  to  seven  thousand.  The  principal  villages 
are  Central  City,  Black  Hawk  and  Nevada,  holding 


34  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

rank  in  the  order  named.  These  are  most  uncom 
fortably  squeezed  into  little  narrow  ravines,  and 
stuck  into  the  hill-sides,  on  streets  the  narrowest  and 
most  tortuous  that  I  ever  saw  in  America;  some 
houses  held  up  in  dizzy  hights  on  stilts,  others  bur 
rowed  into  the  stones  of  the  hill,  with  a  gold  "lode" 
in  the  back  yard,  and  often  a  well  issuing  from  a  rock 
of  precious  metals.  But  here  these  towns  are,  thriv 
ing,  orderly,  peaceable,  busy,  supporting  two  of  them 
each  its  daily  paper,  with  churches  and  schools,  and 
all  the  best  materials  of  government  and  society 
that  the  East  can  boast  of.  Down  in  the  close  val 
leys,  and  up  the  steep  hill-sides  to  the  very  top,  rise 
the  mills  for  grinding  out  the  gold,  or  the  shanties 
that  cover  the  shafts  that  lead  down  after  the 
ore.  Farther  away,  on  the  mountains,  thick  as  ant 
hills  or  prairie-dog-holes,  and  looking  the  same,  are 
"lodes"  or  leads  of  mineral,  discovered,  dug  into, 
pre-empted,  but  not  worked — hundreds,  thousands 
of  them,  with  fortunes  or  failures  involved  in  their 
development,  ready  to  be  tried  when  the  discoverer 
gets  time  or  money,  or  turned  over  to  a  Wall  street 
stock  company  of  five  millions  capital. 

Forty  or  fifty  miles  below  Denver,  near  what  is 
called  the  South  Park,  a  beautiful  table-land  of 
meadow  and  wood  between  Pike's  Peak  and  the 
main  range,  is  the  second  center  of  mineral  devel 
opment  in  Colorado  territory;  but  this  one  upon 
Clear  Creek  is,  as  yet,  the  scene  of  largest  improve 
ment  and  population.  Other  sections  of  the  terri 
tory  are  probably  as  rich  in  valuable  ore ;  some  are 
well  believed  to  be  much  more  so ;  no  part  of  the 


THE    QUARTZ    MILLS.  35 

mountains  may  be  held  wholly  barren ;  it  happens 
only  that  these  localities  were  most  attainable,  and 
were  first  lit  upon  by  the  early  comers.  What  is 
called  gulch  mining,  or  washing  the  sand  and  soft 
and  pulverized  rock  of  the  valley,  for  the  gold  that 
ages  of  rains  have  filtered  out  of  the  solid  rock  of 
the  mountains,  is  about  over  in  Colorado — we  see 
only  now  its  abundant  ruins  in  sluices,  piles  of 
worked  over  earth,  and  the  rotting  simple  machin 
ery  sometimes  used;  yet  in  some  of  the  fresher 
gulches,  this  work  is  still  profitable;  and  we  saw 
pan  washings  that  turned  out  one,  two  and  three 
dollars  to  the  pan,  I  have  a  dollar's  worth  of  gold 
dust  that  I  saw  washed  out  from  about  three  quarts 
of  earth,  in  less  than  ten  minutes  of  time. 

The  chief  attention  now  is  given  to  the  solid 
mining ;  but  for  various  causes,  principally  from  the 
high  prices  of  labor  and  provisions,  all  mining  here 
has  been  dull  for  nearly  a  year.  Not  more  than 
twenty  or  twenty-five  of  the  one  hundred  stamp 
mills  in  the  territory  are  now  at  work.  With  labor 
and  food  from  three  to  four  times  as  high  as  at  the 
East,  growing  mainly  out  of  the  interruption  to  com 
munication  by  the  Indians,  and  the  inflation  of  the 
currency  last  year,  and  the  short  supply  of  laborers 
because  of  the  war,  and  with  gold  now  reduced  to 
nearly  par,  mining  hardly  pays  expenses.  When 
expenses  get  back,  as  they  are  soon  likely  to  do,  to 
the  currency  standard,  the  business  will  again  be 
come  profitable,  and  be  actively  resumed.  Prepar 
ations  are  fast  making  for  this  now,  and  mills  and 
mines  are  being  set  in  order,  and  resuming  work. 


36  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Another  reason  of  the  dull  times  is  that  much  of 
the  best  property  has  been  changing  hands,  passing 
from  the  early  or  original  owners  and  workers  into 
joint  stock  companies,  owned  mainly  in  the  East, 
which  in  some  cases  are  not  conducting  the  busi 
ness  so  wisely  as  their  predecessors,  and  in  others 
are  stopping  for  a  better  labor  and  supply  market, 
or  to  enlarge  and  improve  their  works.  Again,  it 
is  believed  the  mining  interest  is  on  the  eve  of 
great  improvements  in  the  processes  of  extracting 
the  gold  from  its  associate  metals  and  sulphides,  and 
owners  of  mines  and  mills  are  experimenting  in  this 
direction,  or  are  content  to  wait  for  the  results  of 
others'  experiments. 

The  common  process  of  crushing  the  ore  into 
fine  powder,  and  then  washing  the  same  upon  cop 
per  plates  coated  with  quicksilver,  which  collects  the 
disintegrated  gold,  or  is  supposed  to,  it  is  well  ascer 
tained  gets  but  about  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  all  the 
precious  metal.  Three-quarters  goes  off  in  the  "  tail 
ings,"  or  refuse,  as  they  are  called.  With  such  a 
waste,  only  the  most  valuable  of  the  ore  pays  ex 
penses  at  such  times  as  these.  Good  ore  yields  about 
one  hundred  dollars  in  gold  per  cord,  or  twelve  dol 
lars  per  ton,  under  the  stamping  and  quicksilver  pro 
cess.  This  leaves  a  fair  margin  under  favorable 
management,  for  getting  out  the  ore  costs  about 
forty  dollars  a  cord,  hauling  five  dollars,  and  crush 
ing  and  extracting  twenty  dollars.  Choice  ores  yield 
three  hundred  dollars  a  cord ;  but  these  are  rare. 
The  difficulty  is  not  in  separating  the  gold  from  the 
pure  copper,  iron  or  lead,  or  the  quartz  with  which 


NEW    INVENTIONS    FOR    EXTRACTING    GOLD.      37 

it  is  compacted ;  but  the  sulphurets  of  these  metals, 
which  suffuse  and  coat  the  whole,  are  the  plague  and 
mystery.  These  cover  and  hold  the  gold  in  a  stern 
chemical  lock,  how  to  break  which  in  a  simple,  ef 
fective  way  is  the  great  study  of  the  mineral  chem 
ists  and  mining  capitalists.  Various  processes  are 
on  trial ;  one  which  we  saw  applies  a  hot  flame  and 
a  brisk  wind,to  all  the  pulverized  ore,  which  changes  j 
its  chemical  character,  burns  up  the  sulphurets,  and 
leaves  the  metals  all  free;  then  they  are  scoured, 
so  as  to  brighten  the  gold,  and  then  washed,  as 
originally,  in  copper  pans  coated  with  quicksilver, 
which,  better  than  any  other  article  in  these  days 
of  paper  currency  and  forgotten  coin,  knows  the 
gold  when  it  sees  it,  and  sticks  to  it  with  fraternal 
embrace.  This  process  was  getting  twenty-five  dol 
lars  a  ton  from  the  "tailings"  or  refuse  of  the  old 
or  common  process,  or  twice  as  much  as  was  origi 
nally  obtained.  Another  process  has  obtained  three 
hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  from  less  than  a 
ton  of  "tailings,"  which  is  probably  many  times 
what  the  original  ore  produced  by  the  common 
stamping  and  washing.  The  object  desired  is  to 
"desulphurize"  the  ore;  both  these  inventions  do 
this,  though  in  different  ways.  When  the  thing  is 
done,  and  this  season  can  hardly  pass  until  it  is  sat 
isfactorily  accomplished,  we  shall  see  the  Colorado 
mines  yielding  from  five  hundred  to  eight  hundred 
dollars  per  cord  of  ore,  instead  of  from  fifty  to  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  as  now.  (A  cord  is  rated 
at  about  eight  tons,  though  different  ores  vary  very 
much  in  weight.)  This  rate  of  production  will  at 


38  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

once  put  a  new  phase  upon  the  business,  afford  al 
most  any  price  for  labor  and  supplies,  redeem  all 
the  mining  companies  from  whatever  present  em 
barrassments  they  feel,  stimulate-  the  investment  of 
capital  in  these  mines  with  great  rapidity,  and  even, 
by  generous  dividends,  go  far  to  excuse  that  vicious 
system  of  putting  up  a  mining  company's  stock  to 
one,  two,  three  and  five  millions,  when  the  actual 
cash  investment  was  not  over  as  many  hundreds  of 
thousands. 

This  lasi  habit  of  parties  interested  in  the  mining 
business  has  had  a  most  fatal  influence  upon  the 
whole  interest ;  the  small  dividends  upon  large,  many 
times  watered  capitals  have  erroneously  represented 
the  state  of  the  business ;  and  the  suspicions  and  dis 
trust,  that  the  operation  has  surely  scattered  among 
outside  capitalists,  have  hindered  if  not  forbidden 
investments.  Few  or  none  of  the  companies  now 
operating  here  have  spent  over  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  or  three  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  their  mines,  machinery  and  mills,  yet  their  capi 
tals  are  reckoned  by  millions ;  and  of  course  in  hard 
times  like  these  they  can  afford  no  adequate,  seduc 
tive  dividends  on  such  swollen  sums.  How  much 
better  it  would  be  to  have  the  shares  in  a  half  mil 
lion  company,  worth  twice  the  par  value,  and  receiv 
ing  dividends  of  twelve  to  fifty  per  cent.,  than  with 
a  nominal  capital  of  two  or  three  millions,  the  stock 
selling  for  seventy-five  dollars  per  share,  and  receiv 
ing  small  dividends  with  doubt  and  irregularity,  no 
honest,  sensible  man  can  fail  to  see.  I  meet  no 
manager  of  a  mine  here,  whether  an  old  miner  or 


THE    PRODUCT    OF    THE    COLORADO    MINES.       39 

an  agent  from  the  home  capitalists,  who  does  not 
condemn,  as  foolish  in  itself,  a  fraud  upon  the  public, 
and  a  damage  to  the  whole  mining  interest,  this 
practice  of  making  the  nominal  capitals  from  two  to 
ten  times  the  actual,  in  the  generally  vain  hope  of 
gulling  the  flats  in  Wall  street  or  in  New  England 
country  towns.  This  mining  business  of  the  West 
is  too  promising  in  real  profit,  too  legitimate  and 
necessary  to  the  national  wealth  and  development, 
to  be  trifled  with  in  this  weak  and  wretched  way.  • 
The  gross  production  of  the  Colorado  gold  mines 
is  not  correctly  known.  The  United  States  mint 
reports  only  ten  millions  in  all  up  to  July  first  of 
last  year.  This  puts  the  Territory  next  to  California 
in  total  product,  ranking  her  above  North  Carolina 
or  Georgia  in  all  their  history ;  but  it  gives  her  only 
a  small  proportion  of  the  whole  production  of  the 
nation  from  the  beginning  till  now, — ten  millions 
out  of  six  hundred  millions,  California  being  accred 
ited  with  all  but  about  forty  millions  of  the  gross 
amount.  Other  authorities  give  Colorado's  total 
production  as  over  fifty  millions,  accrediting  her 
with  twenty  millions  in  a  single  year  (1864;)  but 
these  figures  are  certainly  as  far  the  other  way.  An 
intelligent  authority  here  (General  Pierce,  the  sur 
veyor-general  of  the  Territory,)  gives  me  the  follow 
ing  estimates:  1862,  ten  millions;  1863,  eight  mil 
lions;  1864,  five  millions.  The  falling  off  indicates 
nothing  as  to  the  real  wealth  of  the  mines,  only 
changes  in  the  business  of  producing,  and  the  nat 
ural  results  of  high  prices.  The  year  1 862  embraced 
successful  gulch  mining,  and  the  first  of  the  quartz 


4O  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

mining,  under  most  favorable  circumstances,  follow 
ing  a  year  (1861)  of  depression  and  non-production 
far  more  fruitful  of  croakers  than  1 864  and  the  first 
half  of  1865  have  been.  Just  now  the  new  Territo 
ries  of  Idaho  and  Montana,  in  the  far  North,  are 
drawing  off  the  floating  population,  the  gulch  min 
ers,  and  those  eager  for  fortunes  at  a  jump.  The 
day  of  these  is  over  here.  Slow  and  sure  is  now 
the  motto  for  Colorado,  as  for  California.  Her  ca 
pacity  is  proven,  admitted;  capital,  science,  labor 
and  machinery  will  return  twenty-five,  fifty  and  one 
hundred  per  cent,  on  their  investments;  but  gold 
eagles  are  no  longer  picked  up  by  the  basketsfull, 
and  hundred  thousand  dollar  fortunes  in  a  day  or  a 
month,  are  not  to  be  had  here, — but  further,  on,  if 
at  all. 

The  reports  from  Idaho  and  Montana,  particu 
larly  the  latter,  are  indeed  astonishing;  the  gulch 
mining,  discovered  and  developing  in  Montana,  is 
reliably  reported  to  me  as  far  richer  than  any  ever 
realized  in  California  or  Colorado,  paying  steadily 
an  ounce  of  gold  (sixteen  to  eighteen  dollars)  a  day 
to  the  man,  and  in  some  gulches  two  and  three 
ounces  a  day.  But  these  placers  will  soon  be  worked 
out ;  these  Territories,  like  their  predecessors,  will . 
speedily  come  down  to  the  hard-pan,  and  have  to  • 
pick  and  powder  and  stamp  and  melt  out  their  gold 
from  the  solid  mountains  that  hold  the  original  de 
posits.  Montana  and  Idaho,  too,  must  hold  out 
greater  inducements  at  first,  in  order  to  secure  their 
peopling  and  development,  for  the  one  is  dependent 
on  Oregon  for  supplies,  and  eight  hundred  miles 


IRON    AND    COAL    IN    COLORADO.  4! 

away  from  a  base  at  that;  while  Montana  has  to 
come  this  way  for  everything  to  eat  and  work  with, 
and  is  at  least  one  thousand  six  hundred  miles  away 
from  railway  and  water  communication. 

All  reports,  all  facts,  whether  floating  in  the  air 
from  mouth  to  mouth,  or  ground  out  by  hard  expe 
rience,  and  put  down  in  black  and  white,  go  to  sus 
tain  the  broadest  and  fullest  meaning  of  the  dying 
statement  of  President  Lincoln,  that  the  United 
States  hold  the  treasury  of  the  world;  and  establish 
beyond  reasonable  doubt,  that  the  countries  of  and 
adjacent  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  are  freighted  with 
the  most  precious  of  ores — gold  first,  next  silver,  in 
which  Nevada  and  Utah  are  most  conspicuous,  and 
Colorado  not  found  wanting,  and  then  copper  (with 
which  the  Colorado  mineral  veins  are  richly  loaded), 
and  also  lead,  iron  and  coal.  On  the  Plains,  near 
the  foot  of  the  mountains,  coal  and  iron  are  already 
found  in  abundant  quantities,  and  are  being  mined 
and  put  to  practical  use.  Found,  too,  just  where  they 
are  most  needed,  to  take  the  place  of  the  wood,  now 
fast  being  drained  from  the  mountains,  and  furnish 
the  material  for  the  machinery  necessary  to  work 
over  the  ore  and  make  available  the  finer  metals. 
Irrigation,  already  entered  upon  on  a  large  scale, 
even  here,  will  supply  agriculture  with  its  lacking ; 
and  through  and  by  all  these  means  combining,  and 
worked  with  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  the  Amer 
ican  people,  stimulated  by  the  great  profits  sure  to 
be  realized  from  wise  and  persevering  use  of  the 
opportunities,  the  western  half  of  the  American  na 
tion  will  fast  move  forward  in  civilization  and  popu- 

4* 


42  ACROSS   THE   CONTINENT. 

lation ;  this  wilderness  will  blossom  as  the  rose,  and 
the  East  and  the  West  will  stand  alike  equal  and 
together,  knowing  no  jealousy,  and  only  rivaling 
each  other  in  their  zeal  for  knowledge,  liberty  and 
civilization.  But  of  what  effect  upon  the  currencies 
and  the  values  of  the  world  will  be  all  this  tide  of 
gold  and  silver  pouring  into  the  lap  of  nations? 
Will  their  commerce  and  populations  grow  in  ex 
tent  and  want  in  equal  proportions,  and  absorb  what 
is  to  be  so  lavishly  fed  out  to  them  ?  Perhaps  so. 
But  these  promises  of  the  American  nation  and  these 
resulting  queries  are  rich  in  thought  and  study. 


LETTER    V. 

/ 

OF    PERSONS,    NOT    THINGS. 


DENVER,  Colorado,  June  3. 

OUR  week  in  Colorado  is  ended ;  we  are  off  this 
morning  for  the  seven  days'  stage  ride  north  and 
west  along  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
through  them  at  Bridger's  Pass,  to  Salt  Lake  City, 
where  we  expect  to  worship  with  Brigham  Young 
in  his  tabernacle  on  Sunday  week.  While  here  and 
in  the  adjacent  mountains,  Mr.  Colfax  has  made  half 
a  dozen  speeches,  and  redelivered  his  Chicago  eu 
logy  upon  President  Lincoln,  the  latter  at  the  re 
quest  of  Governor  Evans  on  the  occasion  of  the 
national  mourning  (June  1st,)  for  the  loss  of  our 
lamented  chief  magistrate.  He  has  been  received 
with  distinguished  honor,  made  a  most  favorable 
impression,  and  encouraged  the  miners  and  people 
of  the  Territory  in  many  ways  by  his  presence  and 
his  words.  Their  compliments  to  him  ended  last 
evening  by  a  grand  gala  supper  at  the  principal  ho 
tel  in  this  town,  in  which  the  leading  officials  of  the 
Territory,  General  Connor,  and  the  ladies  and  gen 
tlemen  of  the  village  to  the  number  of  over  one 
hundred  participated.  Though  the  tickets  were 


44  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

twelve  dollars  each,  which  is  a  fair  specimen  of 
prices  this  way,  they  were  soon  in  earnest  demand 
at  an  advance  of  three  dollars.  The  entertainment 
proved  a  brilliant  one  in  every  respect ;  various  and 
bountiful  and  elegant  as  a  feast ;  graceful  and  grace 
fully  rendered  by  both  ladies  and  gentlemen  as  a 
compliment;  and  humorous,  eloquent,  interesting, 
and  inspiring  in  its  speeches.  We  go  on  in  our 
journey  with  a  rich  sense  of  the  hospitality  and  the 
kindness,  the  enterprise  and  the  intellectual  and  so 
cial  culture  of  the  people  of  Colorado,  both  in  its 
City  of  the  Plains  and  its  Cities  of  the  Mountains. 
Never  was  progress  in  wealth,  in  social  and  political 
organization,  in  the  ^refinements  of  American  home 
life,  more  rapid  and  more  marked  than  in  the  brief 
history  thus  far  of  Colorado.  Soon  she  will  enter 
the  Union  as  a  State,  holding  not  only  the  elements 
but  the  acquired  realities  of  a  noble  and  proud  one, 
and  contributing  largely,  as  she  has  steadily  dene 
even  as  a  Territory,  to  the  common  profit  of  the  na 
tion.  From  the  beginning,  Colorado  has  always 
sent  more  gold  to  the  East  than  she  has  brought 
back  in  goods;  and  she  is  destined  to  be  perma 
nently  a  profitable  partner  in  the  household. 

Your  readers  may  like  to  know  more  of  my  com 
panions  on  this  long  journey  before  we  go  farther 
on.  Let  me  introduce  them.  As  a  public  man, 
everybody  knows  about  Mr.  Colfax ;  how  prominent 
and  useful  he  has  been  through  six  terms  in  Con 
gress,  and  how,  by  virtue  of  his  experience,  ability 
and  popularity,  he  has  come  to  be  Speaker,  and 
stands  before  the  country  one  of  its  best  and  most 


PORTRAIT   OF    MR.  COLFAX.  45 

promising  statesmen.  But  this  is  not  all,  nor  the 
best  of  the  man.  He  is  not  one  of  those,  to  whom 
distance  lends  enchantment ;  he  grows  near  to  you, 
as  you  get  near  to  him ;  and  it  is,  indeed,  by  his' 
personal  qualities  of  character,  by  his  simplicity, 
frankness,  genuine  good  nature,  and  entire  devoted- 
ness  to  what  he  considers  right,  that  he  has  princi 
pally  gained  and  holds  so  large  a  place  on  the  public 
arena.  Mr.  Colfax  is  short,  say  five*  feet  six,  weighs 
one  hundred  and  forty,  is  young,  say  forty-two,  has 
brownish  hair  and  light  blue  eyes,  is  a  childless  wid 
ower,  drinks  no  intoxicating  liquors,  smokes  a  la 
General  Grant,  is  tough  as  a  knot,  was  bred  a  prin 
ter  and  editor,  but  gave  up  the  business  for  public 
life,  and  is  the  idol  of  South  Bend  and  all  adjacen 
cies.  There  are  rio  rough  points  about  him ;  kind 
liness  is  the  law  of  his  nature ; — while  he  is  never 
backward  in  differing  from  others,  nor  in  sustaining 
his  views  by  arguments  and  by  votes,  he  never  is 
personally  harsh  in  utterance,  nor  unkind  in  feeling, 
and  he  can  have  no  enemies  but  those  of  politics, 
and  most  of  these  find  it  impossible  to  cherish  any 
personal  animosity  to  him.  In  tact,  he  is  unbounded, 
and  with  him  it  is  a  gift  of  nature,  not  a  studied  art ; 
and  this  is  perhaps  one  of  the  chief  secrets  of  his 
success  in  life.  His  industry  is  equally  exhaustless  ; 
— he  is  always  at  work,  reading,  writing,  talking, 
seeing,  studying — I  can't  conceive  of  a  single  un- 
progressive,  unimproved  hour  in  all  his  life.  He 
is  not  of  brilliant  or  commanding  intellect,  not  a 
genius,  as  we  ordinarily  apply  these  words ;  but  the 
absence  of  this  is  more  than  compensated  by  these 


46  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

other  qualities  I  have  mentioned, — his  great  good 
sense,  his  quick,  intuitive  perception  of  truth,  and 
his  inflexible  adherence  to  it,  his  high  personal  in 
tegrity,  and  his  long  and  valuable  training  in  the 
service  of  the  people  and  the  government.  With 
out  being,  in  the  ordinary  sense,  one  of  the  greatest 
of  our  public  men,  he  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
useful,  reliable  and  valuable ;  and  in  any  capacity, 
even  the  highest,  he  is  sure  to  serve  the  country 
faithfully  and  well.  He  is  one  of  the  men  to  be 
tenaciously  kept  in  public  life ;  and  I  have  no  doubt 
he  will  be.  Some  people  talk  of  him  for  president ; 
Mr.  Lincoln  used  to  tell  him  he  would  be  his  suc 
cessor  ;  but  his  own  ambition  is  wisely  tempered  by 
the  purpose  to  perform  present  duties  well.  He 
certainly  makes  friends  more  rapidly  and  holds  them 
more  closely  than  any  public  man  I  ever  knew; 
wherever  he  goes,  the  women  love  him,  and  the  men 
cordially  respect  him ;  and  he  is  sure  to  be  always 
a  personal  favorite,  even  a  pet,  with  the  people. 

The  other  official  of  the  party,  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor  Bross  of  Illinois,  is  indeed  our  paterfamilias, 
our  "governor."  Hale  and  hearty  in  body  and 
mind ;  ripe  with  say  fifty-five  years  and  a  wide  expe 
rience  and  culture  in  school,  college  and  journalism  ; 
cheery  in  temperament,  enjoying  rough,  out-door 
life  like  a  true,  unspoiled  child  of  Nature ;  sturdy  in 
high  principles ;  unaffected  and  simple  in  manners 
and  feeling  as  a  child  ;  a  ready  and  most  popular 
stump  speaker ;  enthusiastic  for  all  novel  experience, 
we  all  give  him  our  heartiest  sympathy  and  respect, 
and  constitute  him  the  leader  of  the  party.  Our 


GOVERNOR   BROSS    AND    MR.  RICHARDSON.        4/ 

best  foot,  we  always  put  him  foremost,  whether  dan 
ger,  or  dignity,  or  fun  is  the  order  of  the  occasion. 
Governor  Bross  was  born  in  New  Jersey, — and  so 
says  he  never  can  be  president,  as  the  Constitution 
requires  that  officer  to  be  a  native  of  the  nation  ; 
lumbered  on  the  Susquehannah  ;  went  to  Williams 
College,  Massachusetts  ;  taught  school  in  Franklin 
and  Berkshire  counties  ;  ditto  and  married  in  New 
York ;  and,  following  the  star  of  empire,  went  to 
Chicago,  and,  entering  on  the  editorial  profession, 
has  gone  on  from  small  to  great  things,  until  he  is 
now  the  senior  proprietor  and  editor  of  the  leading 
journal  of  the  North-west,  and  the  second  officer  in 
the  State  government  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Richardson  of  the  New  York  Tribune  has 
lived  on  'the  borders  of  Bohemia  for  many  years, 
sometimes  on  one  side,  sometimes  on  the  other,  and 
presents  all  the  contradictions  of  such  an  existence. 
Of  extern  Massachusetts  birth  and  early  education, 
(with  a  brother  who  is  the  able  conductor  of  the 
Boston  Congregationalist)  he  learned  while  young 
to  love  the  smell  of  the  printing  office  and  the  ro 
mance  of  the  reporter's  life,  and  ran  the  round  of 
editorial  experience  in  nearly  all  our  western  cities ; 
then  was  bitten  by  the  passion  for  travel  and  border 
life;  came  out  to  Kansas  for  the  Boston  Journal; 
then  to,.  Colorado  with  Mr.  Greeley,  edited  a  news 
paper  out  here  during  the  early  days  of  bowie  knives 
and  Colt's  revolvers  ;  crossed  the  Plains  half  a  dozen 
times ;  went  to  Texas  and  New  Mexico ;  and  finally, 
as  the  war  came  on,  after  making  a  secret  tour  of 
the  South  as  a  special  correspondent  for  the  Tribune, 


48  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

became  the  head  of  the  western  and  south-western 
army  correspondents  of  that  paper,  and  in  under 
taking  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  rebel  batteries  at 
Vicksburg,  when  General  Grant  opened  his  final  cam 
paign  in  that  quarter,  was  captured  by  the  enemy ; — 
as  their  pet  and  special  prisoner  he  went  the  rounds 
of  their  jails  and  pens,  and  after  twenty  months' 
servitude  made  his  escape,  and  in  a  wonderful  jour 
ney  of  one  month  through  the  rebel  country  in  win 
ter,  reached  our  lines  in  safety,  and  became  a  hero. 
Notwithstanding  this  long  Bohemian  life,  amid  rough 
people  and  in  out-of-the-way  places,  Mr.  Richardson 
imposes  on  you  with  the  style  and  air  of  a  man  who 
has  had  a  very  narrow  escape  from  the  pulpit,  and 
cherishes  a  natural  hankering  for  it  yet.  Certainly 
you  never  would  recognize  in  him  a  true  child  of 
Bohemia.  He  wears  black  broadcloth  and  "biled 
shirts,"  (the  western  phrase  for  white  under-clothes,) 
does  not  chew  tobacco,  disdains  whiskey,  but  Brinks 
French  brandy  and  Cincinnati  Catawba,  carries  a 
good  deal  of  baggage,  does  not  know  how  to  play 
poker,  and  shines  brilliantly  among  the  ladies.  He 
is  a  young  widower  of  less  than  thirty-five,  of  me 
dium  size,  with  a  light  complexion  and  sandy  hair 
and  whiskers,  and  is  a  very  companionable'  man. 
His  large  and  peculiar  experience  in  the  West  and 
in  the  South  by  field  and  flood,  gives  him  a  rich 
store  of  anecdote  and  illustration,  with  which  he  en 
tertains  us  on  our  long  stage  rides.  He  is  already 
famous  before  the  country  ;  and  his  new  book  of  ex 
periences  in  the  South  will  make  him  much  more 
so.  It  is  probable  he  will  stay  longer  on  the  Pacific 


"A    DISTINGUISHED    COMPANION.  49 

shore  than  the  rest  of  the  party,  and  perhaps  revisit 
Utah,  the  Mining  Regions  and  Mountains,  with  the 
view  of  making  a  book  upon  them  another  season. 

Looking-glasses  are  banished  from  overland  bag 
gage,  and  the  fourth  member  of  the  party  must, 
therefore,  remain  unsketched.  But  there  is  a  num 
ber  five,  who  is  occupying  too  important  a  share  in 
our  experience,  to  be  forgotten  in  any  call  of  the 
roll.  This  is  Mr.  George  K.  Otis  of  New  York,  the 
special  agent  and  representative  of  our  host,  Mr. 
Holladay  of  the  Overland  Mail  and  Stage  Line. 
He  accompanies  us  in  the  capacity  of  guide,  phi 
losopher  and  friend,  which  he  most  generously  ful 
fills.  Himself,  under  Mr.  Holladay,  the  organizer 
and  manager  of  the  stage  line,  he  is  acquainted 
with  all  this  region  and  its  people ;  and  being  a 
man  of  infinite  jest  and  of  free  and  generous  nature, 
we  lack  nothing  under  his  protecting  care,  which  a 
thoughtful  generosity,  nor  a  practical  experience, 
nor  abounding  humor  and  wide  intelligence  can 
give  us.  His  puns  are  sometimes  "fearfully  and 
wonderfully  made";  but  he  earns  forgiveness  by 
making  himself  a  large  share  of  our  daily  comfort 
and  pleasure.  Happy  those  who  fall  to  the  travel 
ing  companionship  of  Otis ! 

Accompanying  so  distinguished  and  popular  a 
public  officer  as  Mr.  Colfax,  we  share  mutually  in 
the  hospitalities  extended  to  him ;  we  have  access  to 
the  most  intelligent  sources  of  information ;  we  see 
and  learn  in  a  short  time  what  ordinary  private  trav 
elers  could  only  gain  by  long  and  careful  observa 
tion  and  examination.  Everywhere,  so  far,  the 
5  4 


50  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

people  of  the  towns  visited  are  bountiful  in  their 
courtesies;  the  journey  is  one  continued  ovation; 
public  receptions  and  entertainments,  and  the  choi 
cest  of  private  hospitalities  are  showered  upon  us ; 
and  we  find  that  neither  the  graces  nor  the  culture 
of  life  are  confined  to  the  East.  They  flourish  here 
among  the  Rocky  Mountains  as  beautifully  as  in  the 
parlors  of  Boston,  or  the  sweet  groves  of  the  Con 
necticut  valley. 

Most  agreeable  of  all  our  experiences  here  are 
the  intelligent,  active,  earnest,  right-minded  and 
right-hearted  young  men  and  women  we  meet ;  peo 
ple,  many  of  whom  have  been  here  for  years,  but, 
instead  of  losing  anything  of  those  social  graces 
that  eastern  towns  and  cities  are  wont  to  think 
themselves  superior  in,  have  not  only  kept  even 
pace  in  these,  but  gained  a  higher  play  for  all  their 
faculties,  and  ripened,  with  opportunity  and  incen 
tive  and  necessary  self-reliance,  into  more  of  man 
hood  and  womanhood.  Everywhere,  too,  I  find  old 
friends  and  acquaintances  from  the  Connecticut 
valley ;  and  nowhere  do  I  find  them  forgetting  old 
Massachusetts,  or  unworthy  her  parentage.  I  see 
less  drunkenness  ;  I  see  less  vice  here  among  these 
towns  of  the  border,  and  of  the  Rocky  ^Mountains, 
than  at  home  in  Springfield ;  I  see  personal  activity 
and  growth  and  self-reliance  and  social  development 
and  organization,  that  not  only  reconcile  me  to  the 
emigration  of  our  young  people  from  the  East  to 
this  region,  but  will  do  much  to  make  me  encour 
age  it.  To  the  right-minded,  the  West  gives  open 
opportunity  that  the  East  holds  close  and  rare ;  and 


THE  OVERLAND  STAGE  LINE.         51 

to  such,  opportunity  is  all  that  is  wanted,  all  that 
they  ask. 

The  great  Overland  Stage  Line,  by  which  we  are 
traveling,  was  originated  by  Mr.  William  H.  Russell 
of  New  York,  and  carried  on  for  a  year  or  two  by 
himself  and  partners,  under  the  name  of  Russell, 
Majors  and  Waddell.  They  failed,  however,  and 
some  three  years  ago  it  passed  into  the  hands  of 
their  chief  creditor,  Mr.  Ben  Holladay,  an  energetic 
Missourian,  who  had  been  a  successful  contractor 
for  the  government  and  for  great  corporations  on  the 
Plains  and  the  Pacific.  He  has  since  continued  the 
line,  improving,  extending  and  enlarging  it  until  it 
is  now,  perhaps,  the  greatest  enterprise  owned  and 
controlled  by  one  man,  which  exists  in  the  country, 
if  not  in  the  world.  His  line  of  stages  commence 
at  Atchison,  on  the  Missouri  River :  its  first  section 
extends  across  the  great  Plains  to  Denver,  six  hund 
red  and  fifty  miles  ;  from  here  it  goes  on  six  hundred 
miles  more  to  Salt  Lake  City,  along  the  base  of  and 
through  the  Rocky  Mountains  at  Bridger's  Pass. 
From  there  to  Nevada  and  California,  about  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  farther,  the  stage  line  is 
owned  by  an  eastern  company,  and  is  under  the 
management  of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  the  express 
agents.  All  this  is  a  daily  line,  and  the  coaches 
used  are  of  the  best  stage  pattern,  well  known  in 
New^England  as  the  "  Concord  coach."  From  Salt 
Lake,  Mr.  Holladay  runs  a  tri-weekly  coach  line 
north  and  west  nine  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through 
Idaho  to  the  Dalles  on  the  Columbia  River  in  north 
ern  Oregon,  and  branching  off  at  Fort  Hall,  also  a 


52  ACROSS   THE   CONTINENT. 

tri-weekly  line  to  Virginia  City  in  Montana,  four 
hundred  miles  more.  From  Denver,  too,  he  has  a 
subsidiary  line  into  the  mountain  centers  of  Cen 
tral  City  and  Nevada,  about  forty  miles.  Over  all 
these  routes  he  carries  the  mail,  and  is  in  the  re 
ceipt  for  this  service  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  thou 
sand  dollars  per  annum  from  the  government.'  His 
whole  extent  of  staging  and  mail  contracts — not 
counting,  of  course,  that  under  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co., 
from  Salt  Lake  west, — is  two  thousand  seven  hun 
dred  and  sixty  miles,  to  conduct  which  he  owns  some 
six  thousand  horses  and  mules  and  about  two  hun 
dred  and  sixty  coaches.  All  along  the  routes  he  has 
built  stations  at  distances  of  ten  to  fifteen  miles; 
he  has  to  draw  all  his  corn  from  the  Missouri  River ; 
much  of  his  hay  has  also  to  be  transported  hun 
dreds  of  miles  ;  fuel  for  his  stations  comes  frequently 
fifty  and  one  hundred  miles ;  the  Indians  last  year 
destroyed  or  stole  full  half  a  million  dollars'  worth 
of  his  property, — barns,  houses,  animals,  feed,  &c. ; 
he  pays  a  general  superintendent  ten  thousand  dol 
lars  a  year;  division  superintendents  a  quarter  as 
much;  drivers  and  stable-keepers  get  seventy-five 
dollars  a  month  and  their  living ;  he  has  to  mend  and 
in  some  cases  make  his  own  roads — so  that,  large  as 
the  sum  paid  by  the  government,  and  high  as  the 
prices  for  passengers,  there  is  an  immense  outlay, 
and  a  great  risk  in  conducting  the  enterprise.  ^Dur 
ing  the  last  year  of  unusually  enormous  prices  for 
everything,  and  extensive  and  repeated  Indian  raids, 
Mr.  Holladay  has  probably  lost  money  by  his  stages. 
The  previous  year  was  one  of  prosperity,  and  the 


MR.  HOLLADAY  AND    HIS   STAGES.  S3 

next  is  likely  to  be.  But  with  so  immense  a  ma 
chine,  exposed  to  so  many  chances  and  uncertain 
ties,  the  returns  must  always  be  doubtful.  Only  a 
great  man  would  assume  such  an  enterprise;  only 
a  strong  man  could  carry  it  through,  over  such  ob 
stacles  as  are  constantly  presented ;  and  the  regu 
larity,  the  promptness  and  the  uniform  high  state  of 
the  entire  service,  in  general  and  particular,  make 
of  the  whole  a  matter  of  real  wonder,  and  an  occa 
sion  of  great  credit  to  Mr.  Holladay.  It  is  very 
natural  that  he  should  be  unpopular  along  his  route, 
and  be  denounced  as  a  monopolist,  taking  advantage 
of  his  monopoly  to  extort  high  prices  and  give 
small  accommodations ;  this  is  the  universal  experi 
ence  of  such  great  enterprises  in  a  new  country. 
But  it  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  through 
these  infant  and  struggling  years  of  this  country, — 
where  travel  and  business  of  all  kinds  are  uncertain 
and  irregular,  and  prices  fluctuating,  and  the  risk 
of  losses  from  Indians  and  robbers  very  great, — to 
discover  here  or  elsewhere  the  man  or  the  means 
for  the  performance  of  this  great  service  so  perfectly 
as  Mr.  Holladay  does  it ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  reckon 
him  high  among  the  agencies  that  are  so  fast  de 
veloping  the  great  western  Territories  of  the  Re 
public,  and  to  doubt  if  many  others  in  the  commu 
nity  are  doing  their  share  in  the  work  more  fairly 
to  the  public  than  he  is.  The  passenger  fares  by 
his  stages  are  now,  from  Atchison  to  Denver  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars,  to  Salt  Lake  three 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  to  Nevada  five  hundred 
dollars,  to  California  five  hundred  dollars,  to  Idaho 


54  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

five  hundred  dollars,  to  Montana  five  hundred  dol 
lars.  These  are  much  higher  than  they  were  two 
years  ago,  and  will  probably  be  reduced  during  the 
season,  as  safety  from  the  Indians  and  lower  prices 
for  food  and  corn  are  assured,  from  thirty-three  to 
fifty  per  cent. 

Mr.  Holladay  now  resides  in  New  York  City,  and 
is  reported  to  be  immensely  wealthy, — say  five  mil 
lions.  He  owns  and  runs,  also,  lines  of  steamships 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean  from  San  Francisco,  north  to 
Oregon  and  British  Columbia,  and  south  to  Mazat- 
lan,  Mexico,  with  contracts  for  the  mails  on  both 
routes  from  our  government  or  from  Maximilian  of 
Mexico.  He  conducts  all  this  immense  business 
successfully  by  the  choice  of  able  and  trusty  mana 
gers  to  whom  he  pays  large  salaries.  Mr.  John  E. 
Russell,  formerly  of  Greenfield,  Massachusetts,  is  his 
confidential  secretary  and  financier  at  New  York ; 
Mr.  George  K.  Otis  is  his  special  agent  at  Washing 
ton  ;  Mr.  William  Reynolds,  a  life-long  stage  mana 
ger,  dating  his  education  as  such  back  to  Chester 
W.  Chapin,  Horatio  Sargent  and  Frank  Morgan  in 
Springfield,  but  since  with  large  experience  in  the 
South  and  California,  is  the  general  manager  of  the 
overland  line,  resident  at  Atchison ;  and  his  (Mr. 
Holladay's)  brother  resides  at  San  Francisco  in 
charge  of  his  steamships.  Mr.  Holladay  visits  his 
overland  line  about  twice  a  year,  and  when  he  does, 
passes  over  it  with  a  rapidity  and  a  disregard  of 
expense  and  rules,  characteristic  of  his  irrepressi 
ble  nature.  Atyear  or  two  ago,  after  the  disaster 
to  the  steamer  Golden  Gate  on  the  Pacific  shore, 


FAST    RIDES    OVER   THE    PLAINS.  55 

by  which  the  only  partner  he  ever  had,  Mr.  Edward 
Rust  Flint,  son  of  old  Dr.  Flint  of  Springfield,  lost 
his  life,  and  himself  barely  escaped  a  watery  grave, 
he  made  the  quickest  trip  overland  that  it  is  possi 
ble  for  one  man  to  make  before  the  distance  is 
shortened  by  railway.  He  caused  himself  to  be 
driven  from  Salt  Lake  to  Atchison,  twelve  hundred 
and  twenty  miles,  in  six  and  one-half  days,  and  was 
only  twelve  days  and  two  hours  from  San  Francisco 
to  Atchison.  The  trip  probably  cost  him  twenty 
thousand  dollars  in  wear  and  tear  of  coaches  and 
injury  to  and  loss  of  horses  by  the  rapid  driving. 
The  only  ride  over  the  Plains,  at  all  comparable 
with  this,  was  that  made  by  Mr.  Aubrey,  on  a  wager, 
from  Santa  Fe  to  Independence,  seven  hundred 
miles,  in  six  and  one-half  days.  But  this  was  made 
on  horseback,  and  when  the  rider  reached  his  desti 
nation,  he  was  so  exhausted  that  he  had  to  be  lifted 
from  his  horse.  How  exciting  the  thought  of  such 
rides  as  these  across  these  open  fields  and  through 
these  mountain  gorges,  that  make  up  the  half  of 
our  Continent! 


LETTER    VI. 

A    SUNDAY    IN    THE    MOUNTAINS. 


VIRGINIA  DALE,  Colorado,  June  5. 

THERE  are  no  aristocratic  distinctions  between 
the  days  of  the  week  west  of  the  Missouri.  The 
Broad  Church  rules  here,  and  so  broadly  that  even 
Saint  Burleigh  of  your  modern  Florence  would  find 
hearty  welcome,  particularly  from  our  red  brethren, 
who  would  rate  his  scalp  with  its  ornaments  at  the 
value  of  a  dozen  of  the  ordinary  sort.  Sundays 
are  as  good  as  other  days,  and  no  better.  Stages 
run,  stores  are  open,  mines  are  dug,  and  stamp  mills 
crush.  But  our  eastern  prejudices  are  not  yet  alto 
gether  conquered  by  the  "  spirit  of  the  age ; "  and 
so,  on  reaching  here  yesterday  morning  at  sunrise, 
we  commanded  a  twenty-four  hours'  halt.  Possi 
bly  our  principles  had  a  point  put  to  them  by  learn 
ing  from  the  down  stage  that  Mr.  "  Lo,  the  poor 
Indian"  had  got  loose  up  the  line,  stolen  the  horses, 
and  interrupted  communication.  At  any  rate, — be 
the  motive  fear  for  our  scalps  or  fear  for  our  souls, — 
we  followed  the  fashion  of  our  forefathers,  and  slept 
through  the  day,  some  of  us  in  the  coach,  the  rest 
stretched  out  on  the  piazza  of  the  only  Jaouse  in 


SWEET   VIRGINIA   DALE.  57 

I 

Virginia  Dale ;  clambering  up  a  high  rock  in  the 
evening  to  view  the  landscape  o'er  of  valley,  stream, 
snow-clad  mountain,  and  far-distant  plain,  and  clos 
ing  out  our  observances  with  a  more  hearty  than 
harmonious  rendering  of  our  small  repertoire  of 
psalm  tunes. 

Lodgings  are  not  extensive  in  this  locality ;  the 
Speaker  borrowed  a  bed ;  two  slept  in  the  coach ; 
and  two  of  us  rolled  ourselves  up  in  our  blankets 
and  took  the  floor.  I  hit  upon  a  board  whose  hard 
side  was  accidentally  put  up ;  and  what  with  this, 
and  hungry  and  dry  and  noisy  stage  drivers  coming 
in  at  from  two  to  four  A.  M.,  and  less  vociferous  but 
quite  as  hungry  invaders  of  our  bodily  peace  in  the 
form  of  vermin,  the  night  brought  more  of  reflec 
tion  than  refection — to  us.  But  we  are  off  early 
this  morning,  having  satisfied  our  Christian  con 
sciences,  and  learned  that  the  Indians  were  cer 
tainly  still  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away,  but 
leaving  behind  for  a  Monday's  rest  a  fresh  stage 
load  of  eager  gold  seekers  and  Salt  Lake  merchants, 
whom  our  scruples  on  the  subject  of  Sunday  trav 
eling  had  thrown  one  day  behind.  But  they  were 
solaced  by  the  arguments  that  we  would  make  the 
paths  straight  for  them  above,  that  they  must  stop 
somewhere,  and  that  here  was  the  best  food  and 
the  prettiest  cook  on  the  line. 

Virginia  Dale  deserves  its  pretty  name.  A  pearly, 
lively-looking  stream  runs  through  a  beautiful  basin, 
of  perhaps  one  hundred  acres,  among  the  moun 
tains, — for  we  are  within  the  embrace  of  the  great 
hills, — stretching  away  in  smooth  and  rising  pasture 


58  ACROSS    THE   CONTINENT. 

to  nooks  and  crannies  of  the  wooded  range ;  fronted 
by  rock  embattlement,  and  flanked  by  the  snowy 
peaks  themselves;  warm  with  a  June  sun,  and  rare 
and  pure  with  an  air  into  which  no  fetid  breath  has 
poured  itself, — it  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  lova 
ble  spot  in  nature's  kingdom.  It  is  one  hundred 
v  miles  north  from  Denver,  half  of  the  way  along  the 
foot  of  the  hills,  crossing  frequent  streams,  swollen 
and  angry  with  the  melting  snows,  and  watering  the 
only  really  green  acres  we  have  seen  since  leaving 
Kansas ;  and  half  the  road  winding  over  and  around 
and  between  the  hills  that  form  the  approaches  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  Only  the  station  of  the 
stage  line  occupies  the  Dale ;  a  house,  a  barn,  a 
blacksmith  shop ;  the  keeper  and  his  wife,  the  latter 
as  sweet,  as  genteel  and  as  lady-like  as  if  just  trans 
planted  from  eastern  society,  yet  preparing  bounti 
ful  meals  for  twice  daily  stage-loads  of  hungry  and 
dirty  passengers;  the  stock-tender  and  his  assist 
ant, — these  were  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  spot,  and 
no  neighbors  within  fifteen  miles.  For  the  day, 
our  party  and  its  escort, — the  soldiers  lying  off  on 
the  grass  by  the  water  with  their  camp  fire  and  their 
baggage  wagon, — made  unusual  life,  and  gave  a  pe 
culiar  picturesqueness  to  the  sequestered  spot. 

How  women,  especially,  can  live  contentedly  in 
these  out-of-the-way  places  on  the  borders,  working 
hard  and  constantly,  among  rough  and  selfish  men, 
and  preserve  their  tender  femininity,  keep  them 
selves  neatly  and  sometimes  even  gracefully  dressed, 
and  not  forget  their  blushes  under  free  compliments, 
would  be  passing  strange,  if  we  did  not  see  it  daily 


MORE    OF    COLORADO.  59 

in  our  journey,  and  know  it  by  the  whole  history 
of  the  sex.  I  certainly  have  seen  young  women 
out  here,  miles  away  from  neighbors,  knowing  no 
society  but  their  husbands  and  children  and  the 
hurri.e'd  travelers, — depending  on  the  mails  for  their 
chief  knowledge  of  what  the  world  is  doing, — who 
could  pass  without  apology  or  gauckerie  to  presiding 
over  a  Boston  dinner  party  or  receiving  in  state  at 
Washington.  Not  all,  indeed,  are  such,  but  they 
are  frequent  enough  to  be  noted  with  both  surprise 
and  pleasure. 

This  is  the  northern  border  of  Colorado.  We 
pass  to-day  into  Dacotah.  Before  parting  with  the 
former  Territory,  let  me  note  a'  few  facts  about  it  and 
its  people.  Colorado  has  now  not  over  twenty-five 
to  thirty  thousand  population,  which  is  five  to  ten 
thousand  fewer  than  in  1860.  The  adventurers  are 
gone.  What  remain  are  the  substantial,  the  earn 
est,  who  have  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  Territory, 
are  satisfied  with  its  promise,  and  are  wisely  work 
ing  for  the  construction  of  a  State  and  their  own 
estate.  A  very  large  proportion  are  men  who  came 
here  four,  five  and  six  years  ago,  and  have  a  reason 
for  the  faith  that  is  in  them.  Last  year,  a  move 
ment  to  become  a  State  failed,  mainly  because  of 
the  unpopularity  of  the  men  prominent  in  it,  and 
candidates  for  its  principal  offices.  It  will  be  re 
newed  this  year,  under  more  favorable  and  prom 
ising  auspices.  The  population  is  too  small,  indeed, 
for  a  State ;  but  there  are  advantages  in  it,  and  ne 
cessities,  almost,  for  it,  that  justify  both  the  people 
in  seeking  and  the  general  government  in  recog- 


6O  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

nizing  the  change.  The  Territory  has  great  inter 
ests,  national  indeed  in  character,  needing  more 
vigorous  interpretation  and  espousal  at  Washing 
ton  than  can  be  secured  by  a  delegate.  The  popu 
lation  is  compact  and  enterprising  and  ambitious; 
willing  to  assume  the  burdens  of  a  government  for 
themselves;  and  appreciating  the  advantages  they 
will  get  from  it. 

One  especial  motive  with  the  Coloradians  for 
making  a  State  government  is  to  get  a  judiciary  of 
their  own,  that  shall  be  both  more  intelligent  and 
independent  than  that  furnished  by  the  Washing 
ton  authorities.  The  men  sent  out  to  these  new 
Territories  as  judges  are  not  apt  to  be  of  a  very  high 
order  either  of  morals  or  intellect.  They  are  often 
hungry  adventurers ;  and  their  salaries  bearing  gen 
erally  no  comparison  to  the  cost  of  living  in  these 
remote  regions,  and  large  pecuniary  interests  often 
being  involved  in  the  questions  brought  before 
them, — as  is  especially  the  case  in  the  mining  Ter 
ritories, — they  are  too  apt  to  yield  to  the  tempta 
tions  offered  to  them,  and  sell  their  judgments  for 
a  price.  However  this  may  be  in  Colorado's  recent 
experience,  her  best  citizens  are  convinced  that  they 
can  get  a  higher  morality,  a  stricter  justice,  and  a 
more  intelligent  law  from  judges  of  their  own  selec 
tion  and  paying,  than  from  those  sent  out  here  and 
paid  by  "  Uncle  Sam." 

A  case  has  just  occurred  in  the  mining  districts, 
not  illustrating,  as  I  know  of,  the  venality  of  the 
federal  judiciary,  but  calculated,  at  least,  to  bring  it 
into  contempt.  General  Fitz  John  Porter,  famous 


A    CASE   OF    "CONTEMPT."  6 1 

as  General  McClellan's  pet,  and  notorious  as  having 
loved  his  patron  and  his  spite  against  General  Pope, 
better  than  his  country  and  her  service,  is  out  here 
as  superintendent  of  some  mines.  He  claimed  a 
vein,  that  belonged  to  Smith  &  Parmalee,  as  the 
latter  thought,  and  began  working  it.  The  other 
party  resisted ;  Judge  Harding  sustained  Porter  by 
an  injunction  against  Smith  &  Parmalee ;  but  when 
ever  Porter's  men  undertook  to  work  in  the  vein, 
they  found  it  rilled  with  such  sulphurous  and  offen 
sive  smoke  that  they  could  not  stay  in  it,  and  had 
to  come  out.  How  the  smoke  came  there,  no  one 
could  tell ;  but,  as  the  vein  connected  with  the 
Smith  &  Parmalee  mine,  everybody  could  guess. 
Thereupon  Smith  &  Parmalee  were  brought  before 
Judge  Harding  on  alleged  "  contempt  of  court,"  for 
smoking  out  the  party  of  the  other  part :  nothing 
could  be  proven  against  them,  however ;  but  the 
most  learned  judge  decided  that  the  defendants  had 
not  disproven  the  alleged  contempt,  and  so  held 
them  in  five  thousand  dollars  bail!  'The  judicious 
grieved,  the  unskillful  laughed,  and  everybody  said 
there  could  be  no  contempt  too  great  for  such  a 
court  as  that.  This  Judge  Harding  is  from  Indiana, 
and  was  first  sent  by  Mr.  Lincoln  to  be  Governor  of 
Utah,  but  becoming  offensive  and  ineffective  there, 
he  was  recalled,  and  given  this  judgeship  to  break 
his  fall.  But  beside  a  broken  character  as  a  public 
officer,  he  brought  hither  such  scandalous,  Mormon 
ways  of  living,  as  to  shock  all  shades  of  public  opin 
ion,  which  is  now  uniting  to  drive  him  out  of  the 
Territory. 


62  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

As  the  great  need  of  the  business  men  and  min 
ers  in  Colorado  is  male  laborers,  so  that  of  the 
housekeepers  is  female  laborers. or  "help."  House 
keeping  in  large  families — and  children  do  accu 
mulate  surprisingly  here — is  a  very  serious  burden 
to  the  wives  and  mothers.  Their  eastern  sisters, 
in  their  direst  woes  with  poor  servants,  can  have 
but  faint  appreciation  of  the  burdens  of  living  and 
entertaining  here,  where  cooks  and  waiting  girls 
are  not  to  be  had  at  any  price.  We  go  to  rich 
dinners  and  bountiful  teas  at  the  homes  of  distin 
guished  and  wealthy  citizens,  and  sit  and  eat  with 
out  the  company  of  hostess  or  any  other  ladies.  She 
and  her  friends  are  busy  in  the  kitchen,  and  come 
out  only  to  stand  behind  our  chairs,  and  change 
the  plates  and  pass  the  viands.  There  is  an  un 
comfortable  feeling  in  being  thus  entertained ;  but 
it  is  the  necessity  of  the  country,  and  all  parties 
make  the  best  of  it.  The  price  of  the  commonest 
of  female  labor  is  two  dollars  a  day  and  board. 
But  the  Colorado  ladies  have  their  compensations ; 
their  husbands  complain  that  they  can  get  no 
goods,  no  machinery  out  from  the  States  under  a 
year  from  the  time  of  ordering — that  all  business, 
all  progress  must  wait  this  long  delay ;  yet  the  ladies 
shine  in  the  latest  fashions  of  millinery  and  dress 
making.  Modes  that  were  but  just  budding  when  I 
left  home,  I  find  in  full  blossom  here.  How  it  is 
done  I  do  not  understand — there  must  be  a  subtle 
telegraph  by  crinoline  wires ;  as  the  southern  ne 
groes  have  what  they  call  a  grape-vine  telegraph. 

The  burden  laid  upon  all  agriculture,  the  absolute 


t 

IRRIGATION.  63 

want  of  all  horticulture  as  yet  in  all  this  country, 
are  among  its  serious  drawbacks.  The  winds,  the 
sun,  the  porous  yet  unfriable  soil,  the  long  seasons 
of  no  or  inadequate  rain,  leave  all  vegetation  gray 
and  scanty,  except  it  is  in  direct  communication  with 
the  water-courses.  Trees  will  not  live  in  the  house 
yards ;  house  owners  can  have  no  turf,  no  flowers, 
no  fruits,  no  vegetables — the  space  around  the 
dwellings  in  the  towns  is  a  bare  sand,  relieved  only 
by  infrequent  mosses  and  weeds.  The  grass  is 
gray  upon  the  plains ;  cotton-wood  and  sappy  pine 
are  almost  alone  the  trees  of  the  mountain  region ; 
no  hard  wood  is  to  be  found  anywhere ;  and  but  for 
the  occasional  oases  by  the  streams,  and  the  rich 
flowers  that  will  spring  up  on  the  high  mountain 
morasses,  the  country  would  seem  to  the  traveler 
nearly  barren  of  vegetable  life.  But  what  there  is 
is  rich  in  quality ;  the  coarse  and  gray  bunch  grass 
of  plain  and  prairie,  of  hill-side  and  rocks,  affords 
the  best  of  nutriment  for  horses,  cattle  and  sheep ; 
they  grow  fat  fast  upon  it  in  summer,  and  exist  upon 
it  in  winter.  Even  here,  where,  in  June  we  see 
snow  on  the  hill-sides  close  to  us,  and  shiver  under 
double  blankets  at  night,  the  cattle  live  out  of 
doors  through  the  long  winter.  It  is,  indeed,  a 
rich  grazing  country,  and  will  support  its  herds  of 
thousands. 

Irrigation  is  a  necessity  for  all  extensive  cultiva 
tion  of  the  soil,  however ;  and  the  extent  to  which 
this  is  already  being  employed,  and  the  amount  of 
money  invested  in  it,  are  occasions  of  surprise.  But 
with  the  far  distance  of  all  competing  production, 


64  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

and  the  great  fertility  of  the  soil  when  thus  devel 
oped,  it  will  richly  pay  to  carry  water  from  the 
mountain  streams  miles  on  miles  from  their  natural 
courses,  and  spread  it  by  little  artificial  rivulets 
over  acres  on  acres  of  grains,  potatoes  and  the 
other  vegetables.  A  plan  is  in  progress  of  execu 
tion  for  bringing  a  large  water-course  some  fifteen 
miles  around  Denver,  and  letting  it  out  in  gentle, 
fructifying  streams  all  over  the  town  and  its  adja 
cent  farms  and  gardens.  Then  will  this  now  barren 
wilderness  of  store  and  house  and  sand  blossom 
like  the  rose ;  then  can  door-yards  be  green  with 
grass,  shaded  with  trees,  and  beautiful  with  flowers. 
Meantime,  the  people  must  live  on  canned  fruits 
and  vegetables  from  the  East;  and,  possess  their 
esthetic  souls  in  patience,  for  the  rest,  in  magnify 
ing  their  mountain  view  of  charming  yet  constant 
beauty.  The  extensive  and  common  use  of  these 
imported  productions  of  our  eastern  orchards  and 
gardens  in  all  the  country  west  of  the  Missouri 
River,  is  most  astonishing.  They  are  on  every  ta 
ble  ;  few  New  England  housekeepers  present  such 
a  variety  of  excellent  vegetables  and  fruits,  as  we 
find  everywhere  here,  at  every  hotel  and  station 
meal,  and  at  every  private  dinner  or  supper.  Corn, 
tomatoes,  beans,  pine  apples,  strawberry,  cherry 
and  peach,  with  oysters  and  lobsters,  are  the  most 
common;  and  all  of  these,  in  some  form  or  other, 
you  may  frequently  find  served  up  at  a  single  meal. 
These  canned  vegetables  and  fruits  and  fish  are 
sold,  too,  at  prices  which  seem  cheap  compared 
with  the  cost  of  other  things  out  here.  They  range 


PRICES    IN    COLORADO.  65 

from  fifty  cents  to  one  dollar  .a  can  of  about  two 
quarts.  Families  buy  them  in  cases  of  two  dozen 
each  at  twelve  to  fifteen  dollars  a  case ;  while  away 
up  in  Montana,  they  are  sold  at  only  twenty-seven 
dollars  a  case. 

Colorado  has  four  daily  and  four  weekly  papers, 
two  each  at  Denver,  and  one  each  at  Black  Hawk 
and  Central  City,  in  the  mining  region  ;  and  though 
their  circulation  is  small — some  five  to  seven  hun 
dred  each — the  large  prices  they  get  for  subscrip 
tions,  for  advertising  and  for  printing,  serve  to  sup 
port  them  all  liberally.  Let  me  close  with  the 
current  Colorado  rates  of  staples  and  luxuries: 
Flour  twenty  cents  a  pound,  meal  twenty-three 
cents,  hams  fifty  cents,  lard  forty  cents,  syrup  five 
dollars  per  gallon,  cheese  seventy-five  cents,  coffee 
seventy-five  cents,  brown  sugar  forty-five  cents, 
butter  sixty  cents,  milk  fifty  cents  per  quart,  best 
cigars  fifty  cents  each,  printing  paper  sixty-eight 
cents  per  pound,  daily  paper,  per  year,  twenty-four 
dollars,  weekly  seven  dollars,  brooms  one  dollar, 
molasses  four  dollars  and  a  half  per  gallon,  boots 
fourteen  dollars  per  pair,  common  labor,  per  day, 
five  dollars.  And  here  are  some  of  the  latest 
Montana  prices,  twelve  hundred  miles  farther  on : 
Flour  fifty  to  sixty  cents  a  pound,  hams  seventy-five 
cents,  golden  syrup  eight  dollars,  cheese  one  dol 
lar,  crackers  ninety  cents,  beans  fifty  cents,  wood 
twelve  to  fifteen  dollars  per  cord,  lumber  one  hun 
dred  dollars  per  thousand.  The  high  price  and  ter 
rible  quality  of  whisky  and  other  liquors  in  all  these 
distant  Territories  are  operating  as  a  very  effective 
6* 


66  ACROSS    THE   CONTINENT. 

temperance  agent.     I  see  very  little  of  them  or  of 
their  effects  anywhere. 

Some  of  the  vernacular  of  the  mountains  is  suf 
ficiently  original  and  amusing  to  be  reported,  also. 
A  "square"  meal  is  the  common  term  for  a  first 
rate  one;  "shebang"  means  any  kind  of  an  estab 
lishment,  store,  house,  shop,  shanty;  "outfit"  has  a 
wider  range,  your  handkerchief,  your  suit  of  clothes, 
the  cut  of  your  hair,  your  team,  your  whole  posses 
sions,  or  the  most  infinitesimal  part  or  item  there 
of;  and  "affidavit"  signifies  anything  else  that  these 
other  terms  do  nor  cover. 


LETTER  VII.' 

FROM  DENVER  TO  SALT  LAKE— THROUGH  THE 
ROCKY  MOUNTAINS. 


SALT  LAKE  CITY,  June  12. 

WE  finished  early  yesterday  (Sunday)  morning 
the  second  and  severest  third  of  the  great  stage- 
ride  across  the  Continent.  We  are  now  two-thirds 
the  way  to  California,  and  the  rest  of  the  journey 
seems  easy  compared  to  what  has  been  passed  over. 
It  is  through  a  more  peopled  country,  freer  from 
Indian  raids,  and  will  be  relieved  to  us  by  more 
frequent  resting-places.  The  distance  from  Denver 
to  Salt  Lake  City  is  six  hundred  miles ;  we  should 
have  driven  it  in  five  days  but  for  the  Indians,  who 
broke  in  upon  the  line  before  us  and  cleaned  it  out 
of  horses  for  fifty  miles,  threw  the  country  into 
confusion  and  travel  into  anxiety,  and  delayed  our 
progress  for  two  or  three  days,  so  that  we  were  in 
all  seven  days  in  the  trip.  But  we  just  escaped 
more  severe  possible  disaster;  for  the  "pesky  sar- 
pints,"  as  they  are  not  unnaturally  reckoned  by  ev 
erybody  in  the  West,  hovered  close  upon  both  our 
front  and  our  rear ;  our  escort  drove  off  a  band  of 
them  who  were  attacking  a  train  of  repentant  and 


68  ACROSS   THE   CONTINENT, 

returning  Mormons,  right  in  our  path ;  and  they 
swooped  in  upon  a  stage  station  the  night  after  we 
passed  it,  stole  all  its  horses,  killed  the  two  stock- 
tenders,  also  three  of  the  five  soldiers  who  were 
located  there  as  guard,  and  severely  if  not  mortally 
wounded  the  other  two.  But  though  our  escort 
was  small  over  this  line,  never  over  ten  cavalrymen, 
and  sometimes  none  at  all,  our  coach  came  through 

unmolested. 

• 

Whether  these  fresh  Indian  inroads  in  this  quar 
ter  presage  a  general  Indian  war,  are  by  pretended 
friendly  tribes  or  those  known  to  be  inimical,  are 
mainly  for  getting  supplies  of  horses,  which  has 
seemed  to  be  the  principal  object,  or  inspired  by 
general  hate  and  bloodthirstiness,  or,  so  far  as  they 
have  fallen  upon  the  "Josephites"  or  deserting  Mor 
mons,  have  been  directed  by  some  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Latter  Day  Saints  here  to  put  a  stop  to  this 
sort  of  depletion  of  their  power  and  population; 
whether  they  are  by  petty  straggling  bands,  led  by 
desperate  white  robbers,  or  are  the  advance  couriers 
of  all  the  warlike  tribes  of  the  Plains  and  the  Moun 
tains, — there  is  only  one  course  to  be  pursued  with 
regard  to  them,  and  that  General  Connor  is  now 
doing  with  new  energy.  He  will  guard  and  patrol 
the  whole  main  overland  road,  as  he  has  been  do 
ing  the  lower  part  of  it,  with  cavalrymen  and  in 
fantry,  and  give  an  escort  to  every  stage ;  from  the 
military  posts,  every  one  hundred  to  two  hundred 
miles  along  the  route,  he  will  send  out  scouting 
parties  to  track  up  the  marauders ;  if  the  raids  and 
murders  can  be  traced  to  friendly  tribes,  as  has 


THE   INDIAN    QUESTION.  69 

been  done  in  one  or  two  cases,  he  will  demand  those 
engaged  in  it,  and  failing  to  get  them  will  seize  and 
hang  some  of  the  principal  chiefs ; — he  will  re 
taliate  quickly  and  sharply ;  and  then,  with  a  large 
force,  now  gathering  at  Fort  Laramie,  he  will  go  in 
pursuit  of  the  great  body  of  the  hostile  Indians  in 
the  North,  and  inflict  upon  them  a  sharp  punish 
ment  ; — and  so  conveying  to  them  all  the  knowledge 
of  our  power  and  purpose  to  make  them  peaceable, 
do  the  best  and  only  thing  to  secure  their  friend 
liness.  The  government  is  ready  to  assist  in  their 
support,  to  grant  them  reservations,  to  give  them 
food  and  make  them  presents ;  but  it  must  and 
will,  with  sharp  hand,  enforce  their  respect  to  travel, 
their  respect  to  lives  and  property,  and  their  respect 
to  trade  throughout  all  this  region. 

And  if  this  cannot  be  secured,  short  of  their  utter 
extermination,  why  extermination  it  must  be.  Else, 
we  may  as  well  abandon  this  whole  region ;  give  up 
its  settlement,  its'subjugation  to  civilization,  its  de 
velopment  to  wealth  and  Christianity.  It  is  the 
old  eternal  contest  between  barbarism  and  civiliza 
tion,  between  things  as  they  have  been  and  are,  and 
material  and  moral  progress ;  and  barbarism  and 
barbarity  must  go  to  the  wall,  somewhat  too  roughly 
perhaps,  as  is  always  the  case  with  new,  earnest, 
material  communities,  but  yet  certainly.  The  Mor 
mons  have  exhausted  the  Quaker  policy  towards 
the  Indians ;  have  fed  and  clothed  them  for  years, 
paying  them  in  all  ways  heavy  subsidies,  in  consid 
eration  of  being  let  alone ;  but  they  are  growing 
tired  of  it,  both  because  it  is  expensive,  and  is  not 


7<D  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

sure  of  success.  Only  a  few  days  ago,  some  In 
dians  attacked  the  Mormons  at  a  settlement  about 
eighty  miles  south  of  here,  and  killed  eighteen  or 
twenty  persons.  Brigham  Young  and  other  offi 
cials  of  Church  and  State  went  down  to  investigate 
the  matter  and  restore  peace;  they  have  just  come 
back,  reporting  success,  and  laying  part  of  the 
blame  on  the  whites,  but  still  with  less  of  the  old 
disposition  to  subsidize  the  barbarians. 

Montana  is  disturbed  with  reports  of  Indian  out 
rages  ;  this  whole  region  of  mountains  and  plains 
is  sensitive  and  suffering  with  the  apprehensions  or 
the  realities  of  their  general  recurrence ;  commerce 
suffers  ;  prices  go  up ;  emigration  stops ;  and  all 
the  development  of  the  great  Wesj;  is  clogged.  No 
wonder  is  it,  then,  that  the  entire  white  population 
of  the  Territories  clamors  for  positive  measures  of 
restraint  and  punishment.  The  red  man  of  reality 
is  not  the  red  man  of  poetry,  romance,  or  philan 
thropy.  He  is  false  and  barba'ric,  cunning  and 
cowardly,  attacking  only  when  all  advantage  is  with 
him,  horrible  in  cruelty,  the  terror  of  women  and 
children,  impenetrable  to  nearly  every  motive  but 
fear,  impossible  to  regenerate  and  civilize.  The 
whites  may  often  be  unjust  and  cruel  in  turn ;  but 
the  balance  is  far  against  the  Indian ;  and  the 
country  must  sustain  the  government  and  General 
Connor  in  pursuing  a  vigorous  offensive  and  defen 
sive  policy  towards  him. 

Do  not  suppose,  however,  we  lost  sleep  or  rations, 
or  eyes  for  passing  scenery,  as  we  rolled  over  the 
mountains,  and  passed  the  divide  between  the  great 


THE  ANTELOPE  AND  TROUT.         /I 

oceans  of  America.  We  rested  proudly  on  our 
own  prowess  and  the  rifles  of  our  escort.  We  had 
immense  faith  in  the  double-barreled  shot-gun  of 
Governor  Bross;  and  we  created  terrible  alarm 
among  some  emigrants  in  our  rear  by  firing  at  a 
mark  in  our  front.  So  we  ate  our  antelope,  when 
we  could  get  it,  and  our  "mountain  chicken"  (fried 
bacon)  regularly,  with  faith  in  its  undisturbed  di 
gestion,  and  cuddled  up  each  in  his  corner  at  night 
for  equally  reliable  sleep.  The  canned  fruits  and 
vegetables  and  clean  table-cloths  disappeared  for  a 
time  after  Virginia  Dale,  but  the  antelope  came  in 
to  soften  the  fall ;  one  of  our  escort  shot  one  of  the 
bounding  beauties  as  he  stopped,  five  hundred  yards 
away,  to  gaze  through  his  limpid,  liquid  eyes  in  won 
der  on  our  turn-out;  and  we  found  him  and  his 
successors  most  luscious  eating — very  delicate  deer, 
tender,  melting  and  digestible. 

The  antelopes  weigh  from  sixty  to  eighty  pounds, 
are  fawn-like  in  color  and  appearance,  have  short, 
branching  horns,  and  are  plenty  at  all  seasons  upon 
the  high  plains  and  in  the  mountains  of  the  region. 
The  elk,  as  large  as  a  small  cow,  and  with  horns 
four  to  six  feet  Jong,  and  the  black-tailed  deer  are 
rarer  game;  this  is  not  the  season  for  shooting 
them  ;  and  they  cling  closer  to  the  mountains.  Of 
fish  we  had  but  few ;  trout  were  as  abundant  as  fe 
ver  and  ague  in  Indiana,  but  always  a  little  way  off, 
at  the  next  brook  or  station.  The  soldiers  at  Fort 
Halleck  had  just  made  captive  a  cinnamon  bear, 
which  strayed  down  into  camp  from  an  adjoining 
mountain;  and  our  stage  gave  a  wide  berth  to  a 


72  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

grizzly  bear,  which  was  taking  his  midnight  nap  in 
the  middle  of  the  road.  The  grizzly  was  the  only 
animal  that  our  courage  and  our  double-barreled 
shot-gun  were  not  equal  to ;  and  he  is,  indeed,  next 
to  the  Indian,  the  terror  of  all  hunters.  We  missed, 
too,  the  sage  hen,  a  favorite  game  of  the  region,  but 
not  of  the  season;  rabbits  scented  our  approach 
and  scooted  away  out  of  shot ;  the  retreat  of  the 
hungry,  thievy-looking  wolf  was  hastened  by  our 
balls  ;  only  the  ridiculous  little  prairie  dogs  and  the 
funnier  and  littler  squirrels — beautifully  striped  with 
black,  and  hardly  bigger  than  a  mouse — sported 
carelessly  in  our  warlike  presence. 

The  scant,  coarse  vegetation  of  the  Plains  and 
of  Denver's  neighborhood  grew  green  and  rich  in 
our  memory,  as  we  came  on  north  and  west  from 
Virginia  Dale,  entered  the  Laramie  Plains,  passed 
along  on  the  snow  line,  crossed  the  mountain  range 
at  Bridger's  Pass,  and  went  out  upon  the  country 
of  the  Bitter  Creek.  The  Desert  of  the  Mountains 
is  far  drearier  and  more  barren  than  the  Desert  of 
the  Plains.  That  seems  redeemable  and  has  its 
uses ;  this  is  only  for  trying  the  patience  and  tax 
ing  the  ingenuity  of  man.  There  is  very  little  to 
redeem  the  middle  two  hundred  miles  of  our  ride 
from  utter  worthlessness  for  human  service.  The 
soil  is  sand,  so  saturated  with  alkali  as  to  poison  its 
water,  and  to  give  the  earth  the  appearance,  in  spots, 
sometimes  for  large  areas,  of  a  fresh  hoar  frost  or  a 
slight  snow.  Grass  is  only  a  spasmodic  tuft.  The 
sage  bush  is  the  chief,  almost  only  vegetation — 
a  coarse,  wild  form  of  our  garden  sage,  growing 


THE    DESERT   OF    BITTER   CREEK.  73 

rugged  and  rough  from  one  to  three  feet  high ;  yet 
mules  and  cattle  sometimes  will  eat  it  because  they 
must  or  die,  and  it  does  make  quick,  hot  fire  for  the 
emigrants'  and  wagon-drivers'  kettles — but  think  of 
savoring  your  food  with  soap  and  sage  tea ;  think  of 
putting  a  soap  factory  and  an  apothecary  shop  into 
one  room,  and  that  your  kitchen !  Through  all  this 
inhospitable,  barren  region,  there  are  no  buildings 
save  the  stage  stations ;  no  inhabitants  but  the 
stock-tender  and  the  station-keeper ;  an  occasional 
tented  wigwam  of  half-breed  or  father  of  half-breeds 
stands  by  a  stream:  we  pass  with  pity  the  emi 
grant's  slow  wagon  and  the  mule  train*— hot  and 
dusty  and  parched  by  day,  cold  and  shivering  and 
parched  by  night ; — it  is  a  wonder  how  people  can 
go  alive  through  this  country  at  the  rate  of  only 
twelve  and  fifteen  miles  a  day,  and  finding  food  and 
drink  as  they  go.  But  they  do,  year  by  year,  thou 
sands  by  thousands.  Shall  the  Indian  still  add  to 
the  horrors  of  the  passage,  as  he  has  and  does  ? 

The  road,  too,  grows  rough ;  sluices  and  gulches 
are  frequent  and  deep ;  rocks  begin  to  abound ;  and 
the  stage  staggers  about  in  a  way  frightful  to  all 
exposed  parts  of  the  body.  Yet  we  do  not  seem  to 
be  going  over  the  highest  range  of  mountains  in  the 
country ;  we  a*re  passing  rather  through  hardly  per 
ceptible  rising  valleys ;  and  though  the  mountains 
that  guard  us  on  either  side  grow  nearer  and  lower 
to  us,  they  always  seem  to  be  above  us  rather  than 
under  us.  Striking  the  North  Platte,  as  it  first 
comes  out  of  the  mountains,  but  rough  and  rapid  as 
are  all  the  streams  of  the  mountains  at  this  season 


74  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

of  melting  snow,  and  some  thousand  miles  from 
where  we  parted  company  with  it  at  Julesburg  on 
the  Plains,  to  follow  its  southern  sister  to  Denver; 
we  enter  upon  the  night  ride  through  Bridger's  Pass, 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  slopes  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  You  need  to  be  told  what  you  are  do 
ing.  There  is  no  slow  hill-climbing ;  the  horses 
trot  the  stage  along ;  and  the  soldier  escort  gallop 
behind.  Not  through  valleys  still,  but  apparently 
alon^  and  up  the  beds  of  departed  rivers,  with 
mountain  walls  on  either  hand, — sometimes  ten  or 
twenty  miles  wide,  and  again  narrowing  to  rods, 
but  oftenest  miles  in  width ;  on  one  side  bare,  per 
pendicular  walls  of  rock,  thrown  into  all  imaginable 
and  unscientific  combinations  of  the  original  or 
sub-original  formations,  and  since  carved  and  fluted 
by  wind  and  sand  and  rain  into  all  and  every  shape 
that  architecture  ever  created,  or  imagination  fan 
cied;  on  the  other,  rounded  hill-side  with  scant 
verdure  and  occasional  stunted  tree  and  frequent 
snow-bank.  Not  in  one  continuous  bed  or  valley, 
was  our  upward  course,  but  a  succession  of  such, 
leading  one  into  another. 

So  we  rode  on  through  the  clear  twilight,  *hat 
lingers  till  nine  and  ten  o'clock  in  this  region,  into 
the  rich  moonlight  that  only  gave  new  form  and 
beauty  to  the  rocks,  and  out  into  the  morning  dawn 
that  hastens  on  at  two  to  three ;  watching  the  wa 
ter  to  see  which  way  it  ran,  and  building  Pacific 
Railroads  along  these  easy  grades  back  to  home  and 
forward  to  fame  and  fortune.  I  was  in  the  saddle, 
galloping  with  the  captain  of  the  escort;  but  the 


THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  WINDS.      75 

earlier  and  more  enthusiastic  lieutenant-governor  of 
Illinois,  who  kept  guard  with  the  driver  on  the  box, 
shouted  out  the  passage  over  the  line — it  was  no 
more  than  a  "  thank-ye-marm  "  in  a  New  England's 
winter  sleigh-ride,  yet  it  separates  the  various  and 
vast  waters  of  a  Continent,  and  marks  the  fountains 
of  the  two  great  oceans  of  the  globe.  But  it  was 
difficult  to  be  long  enthusiastic  over  this  infinitesi 
mal  point  of  mud ;  the  night  was  very  cold,  and  I 
was  sore  in  unpoetical  parts  from  unaccustomed 
saddles,  and  I  got  down  from  all  my  high  horses, 
and  into  my  corner  of  the  stage,  at  the  next  station. 
The  effect  of  the  high  winds  and  blowing  sands 
and  sharp  rains  of  this  region  upon  the  soft  rock 
and  clay  of  some  of  these  hills,  is  certainly  very 
curious.  These  agencies  have  proved  wonderful 
miracle-workers.  Wind-augurs  Mr.  Fitzhugh  Lud- 
low  called  them,  I  believe ;  but  some  of  his  stories 
as  to  their  performances  are  purely  imaginative, 
and  only  excite  ridicule  among  the  mountaineers. 
But  the  tall,  isolated  rocks,  that  surmount  a  hill, 
sometimes  round,  but  always  even  and  smooth  as 
work  of  finest  chisel;  the  immense  columns  and 
fantastic  figures  upon  the  walls  of  rock  that  line  a 
valley  for  miles ;  the  solitary  mountains  upon  the 
plain,  fashioned  like  fortresses,  or  rising  like  Gothic 
cathedral,  and  called  buttes  (a  French  word  signify 
ing  isolated  hill  or  mountain),  separated  from  their 
family  in  some  great  convulsion  of  nature;  the 
long  lines  of  rock  embankment,  one  above  another, 
formed  sometimes  into  squares  like  a  vast  fort,  and 
again  running  along  for  miles,  a  hundred  feet  above 


?  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

the  valley,  looking  like  the  most  perfect  of  railroad 
embankment,  with  the  open  space  occasionally  for  a 
water  course ; — these  and  kindred  original  fashions 
of  nature,  with  details  indescribable  and  picturesque, 
constitute  the  sole  redeeming  feature  for  scenery  of 
the  country  I  have  been  describing,  and  are  a  con 
stant  excitement  and  inspiration  to  the  traveler. 

One  of  the  most  curious  single  specimens  of  this 
natural  architecture,  that  we  passed  on  our  road 
down  the  Pacific  slope,  is  called  "The  Church 
Butte,"  and  is  familiar  to  all  overland  travelers.  At 
a  distance,  it  looms  up  on  the  level  plain,  a  huge, 
ill-shapen  hill ;  near  by,  it  appears  the  most  mar 
velous  counterfeit  of  a  half-ruined,  gigantic,  old- 
world  Gothic  cathedral,  that  can  be  imagined.  We 
stopped  before  it  just  as  the  sun  had  gone  down  in 
the  west,  and  as  the  full  moon  came  up  the  eastern 
horizon,  and  the  soft,  contrasting  lights,  deepening 
slowly  into  shadowy  dimness,  gave  exquisite  devel 
opment  to  the  manifold  shapes  and  the  beautiful 
and  picturesque  outlines,  that  rock  and  clay  had 
assumed.  The  Milan  or  the  Cologne  cathedral, 
worn  with  centuries,  ill-shapen  with  irregular  de 
cay,  could  not  have  looked  more  the  things  they  are 
or  would  be,  than  this  did.  Everything  belonging 
to  the  idea  was  there  in  some  degree  of  preserva 
tion.  Porch,  nave,  transept,  steeple,  caryatides, 
monster  animals,  saints  and  apostles,  with  broken 
columns,  tumbled  roof,  departed  nose  or  foot,  worn 
and  crumbling  features,  were  all  in  their  places,  or 
a  little  out,  but  recognizable  and  nameable.  We 
walked  around  this  vast  natural  cathedral  of  sand- 


THE    CHURCH    BUTTE.  77 

stone  and  clay — a  full  half  mile — and  greater  grew 
our  wonder,  our  enthusiasm.  The  hour  and  the 
light  were  certainly  propitious ;  but  viewed  under 
any  light,  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  great  natural 
wonders  of  the  Continent,  and  is  chief  among  three 
or  four  things  that  have  already  abundantly  repaid 
me  for  this  long  journey. 

Flowing  out  from  the  Butte  on  all  sides  was  a 
thick  solid  stream  of  fine  stone  and  clay,  that  told 
how  the  work  was  done,  how  it  was  going  on  still, 
refining,  pointing,  carving,  chiseling,  but  gradually 
and  surely  leveling,  as  all  mountains,  the  world 
over,  are  being  leveled,  and  the  whole  surface  of 
the  globe  made  one  vast  plain.  The  share  which 
the  high  winds  and  the  sand  they  take  up  and  blow 
with  powerful  force  in  right  lines,  and  in  curves,  and 
in  whirls,  have  in  this  great  work,  both  in  its  fanta 
sies  and  in  its  destruction,  is  such  as  can  hardly  be 
realized  by  those  who  have  not  experienced  or  wit 
nessed  them.  Sand  showers  or  sand  whirlpools  are 
of  almost  -daily  occurrence.  They  load  the  atmos 
phere  with  sand ;  they  carry  it  everywhere  ;  among 
rocks,  into  houses,  through  walls,  into  the  bodies  of 
everything  animate  and  inanimate,  and  there  keep 
it  at  its  work  of  destruction  and  reconstruction. 
There  is  a  window  among  the  mountains  of  Colo 
rado  that  a  single  storm  of  this  sort  has  changed 
from  common  glass  into  the  most  perfect  of  ground 
glass ;  and  the  fantastic  architecture  of  its  creation 
among  the  rocks  of  the  country,  from  the  North 
Platte  to  Fort  Bridger,  can  only  be  understood  and 
appreciated  by  being  seen. 


78  '  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

As  we  approached  Fort  Bridger,  the  country 
grew  fairer — sage  bush  gave  way  to  grass;  the 
streams  became  purer;  timber  lined  the  water 
courses;  and  the  land  became  bearable  indeed. 
Fort  Bridger  is  an  old  and  pleasantly  located  post ; 
a  fresh  river  runs  through  the  camp  yard ;  the  val 
ley  looks  sweet  and  green  in  June ;  and  back  rise 
the  always  beautiful  and  always  snow-covered  moun 
tains.  Here  we  stopped,  had  kind  greeting  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  went  to  bed  for  the  first 
time  in  a  week,  and  after  a  sumptuous  breakfast 
with  Judge  Carter,  the  merchant  and  magistrate  of 
the  precinct,  passed  on  and  over  into  the  basin  of 
the  Gr,eat  Salt  Lake.  But  that  day's  ride,  and  our 
reception  and  experiences  among  the  Mormons 
must  wait  another  letter. 

We  remain  here  for  a  full  week.  The  grass  is 
too  green ;  the  trees  too  new  to  our  eyes ;  the 
roses  too  red  and  refreshing;  the  strawberries  and 
gre^n  peas  too  tempting  to  our  carnal  appetites ; 
the  curious  social  and  wonderful  material  develop 
ments  of  this  city  and  Territory  too  rare  and  re 
markable  ;  and  the  hospitality  of  the  people,  Mor 
mon  and  Gentile,  too  generous  and  inviting,  to  per 
mit  us  to  leave  hurriedly. 


LETTER    VIII. 

THE  WAY  INTO  UTAH  :    RECEPTION  BY  THE   MOR 
MONS. 


GREAT  SALT  LAKE  CITY,  Utah,  June  14. 
LEAVING   Fort   Bridger  for  our  last  day's  ride 
hither,  we  leave  the  first  Pacific  slopes  and  table 
lands  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  drained  to  the  south 
for  the  Colorado  River  and  to  the  north  for  the 
Columbia,  and  go  over  the  rim  of  the  basin  of  the 
Great  Salt  Lake,  and  enter  that  Continent  within  a 
Continent,  with  its  own  miniature  salt  sea,  and  its 
independent  chain  of  mountains,  and  distinct  river 
courses  ;  marked  wonderfully  by  nature, and  marked"! 
now  as  wonderfully  in  the  history  of  civilization  by  I 
its  people,  their  social  and  religious  organization,  J 
and  their  material  development.     This  is  Utah — 
these  the  Mormons.     I  do  not  marvel  that  they ; 
think  they  are  a  chosen  people  ;  that  they  have  been } 
blessed  of  God  not  only  in  the  selection  of  their 
home,  which  consists  of  the  richest  region,  in  all  the 
elements  of  a  State,  between  the  Mississippi  valley— 
and   the  Pacific   shore,  but   in  the  great  success    I 
that  has  attended  their  labors,  and  developed  here  --• 
the  most  independent  and  self-sustaining  industry 


8O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

that  the  western  half  of  our  Continent  witnesses. 
Surely  great  worldly  wisdom  has  presided  over  their 
settlement  and  organization ;  there  have  been  tact 
and  statesmanship  in  the  leaders ;  there  have  been 
industry,  frugality  and  integrity  in  the  people ;  or 
one  could  not  witness  such  progress,  such  wealth, 
such  varied  triumphs  of  industry  and  ingenuity  and 
endurance,  as  here  present  themselves. 

We  enter  Utah  over  and  among  a  new  series  of 
hills,  the  belongings  of  the  Wasatch  Mountains, 
the  first  of  the  subsidiary  ranges  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  the  eastern  guard  and  parent  of  the 
Salt  Lake  valley.  We  have  our  finest  day's  ride 
yet  along  the  crests  of  hills  eight  thousand  feet 
high,  and  through  valleys  and  gorges  guarded  by 
perpendicular  walls  of  rock,  all  rich  with  a  spring 
verdure  that  is  fresh  and  grateful  to  our  eyes.  We 
play  at  snow  ball  from  the  large  white  drifts,  that 
lie  along  our  road ;  and  we  pick  abundant  flowers 
at  the  same  time.  These  spring  up  quickly  with 
the  grass,  watered  by  melting  snow,  and  inspired 
by  the  sun's  hot  heat ;  for  twice  hot  it  is  compared* 
with  our  eastern  sun,  in  these  high  western  regions. 
Some  are  new  to  mine  eyes ;  many  wear  familiar 
faces,  though  greatly  modified  by  change  of  soil 
and  climate ;  and  above  all  other  colors,  the  yeUow 
predominates.  Did  you  ever  think  this  the  favorite 
color  of  nature?  What  other  clothes  your  mead 
ows  and  these  hills  with  buttercups  and  dandelions 
till  green  is  out-borne  by  yellow  ?  What  other  has 
more  varieties  of  plants  in  its  list — more  shades  in  its 
blossoming  ?  Here  I  find  new  ones ;  among  others 


ECHO    CANYON.  8 1 

little  sun  flowers,  a  foot  high,  three  or  four  blossoms 
to  a  plant,  and  plants  as  thick  as  plantains  by  the 
pasture  path.  Let  us  treat  yellow,  then,  with  more 
respect,  since  it  is  nature's  chosen ;  and  learn,  as 
we  may,  what  variety  and  range  of  beauty  there  is 
in  its  shades. 

So  we  rolled  rapidly  through  summer  and  winter 
scenes,  with  sky  of  blue  and  air  of  amber  purity, 
and  when  the  round  moon  came  up  out  from  the 
snowy  peaks,  giving  indescribable  richness  and  soft 
ness  to  their  whiteness,  we  kept  on  and  on,  now  up 
mountain  sides,  now  along  the  edge  of  precipices 
several  hundred  feet  high,  down  which  the  stumble 
of  a  horse  or  the  error  of  a  wheel  would  have 
plunged  us ;  now  crossing  swollen  streams,  the  wa 
ter  up  to  the  coach  doors,  now  stammering  through 
morass  and  mire,  plunging  down  and  bounding  up 
so  that  we  passengers,  instead  of  sleeping,  were 
bruising  heads  and  tangling  legs  and  arms  in  en 
acting  the  tragedy  of  pop-corn  over  a  hot  fire  and 
in  a  closed  dish  ;  and  now  from  up  among  the  clouds 
and  snow,  we  tore  down  a  narrow  canyon  at  a  break 
neck  rate,  escaping  a  hundred  over-turns  and  top 
pling  on  the  river's  brink  until  the  head  swam  with 
dizzy  apprehensions.  Most  picturesque  of  all  the 
scene's  of  this  day  and  night  ride  was  the  passage 
through  Echo  Canyon,  a  very  miniature  Rhine  val 
ley  in  all  but  vines  and  storied  ruin.  The  only 
ruins  in  it  were  those  of  feeble  fortifications  which 
the  Mormons  set  up  when  President  Buchanan 
marched  his  army  against  them,  but  halted  and 
went  away  without  attack,  leaving  stores  of  pro- 
4*  6 


82  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

visions,  wagons  and  ammunition,  and  a  contempt  for 
the  government,  neither  of  which  the  Mormons  have 
quite  exhausted  yet.  Early  "sun-up"  brought  us 
to  the  last  station,  kept  by  a  Mormon  bishop  with 
four  wives,  who  gave  us  bitters  anfl  breakfast,  the 
latter  with  green  peas  and  strawberries,  and  then, 
leaving  wife  number  one  at  his  home,  went  on  with 
us  into  the  city  for  parochial  visits  to  the  other  three, 
who  are  located  at  convenient  distances  around  the 
Territory. 

Finally  we  came  out  upon  the  plateau  or  "  bench," 
as  they  call  it  here,  that  overlooks  the  valley  of  the 
Jordan,  the  valley  alike  of  Utah  Lake  and  the  Great 
Salt  Lake,  and  the  valley  of  the  intermediate  Great 
Salt  Lake  City.  It  is  a  scene  of  rare  natural 
beauty.  To  the  right,  upon  the  plateau,  lay  Camp 
Douglas,  the  home  of  the  soldiers  and  a  village  in 
itself,  holding  guard  over  the  town,  and  within  easy 
cannon  range  of  tabernacle  and  tithing-house ;  right 
beneath,  in  an  angle  of  the  plain,  which  stretched 
south  to  Utah  Lake  and  west  to  the  Salt  Lake — 
"and  Jordan  rolled  between," — was  the  city,  regu 
larly  and  handsomely  laid  out,  with  many  fine  build 
ings,  and  filled  with  thick  gardens  of  trees  and 
flowers,  that  gave  it  a  fairy-land  aspect;  beyond 
and  across,  the  plain  spread  out  five  to  ten  miles 
in  width,  with  scattered  farm-houses  and  herds  of 
cattle ;  below,  it  was  lost  in  dim  distance ;  above,  it 
gave  way,  twenty  miles  off,  to  the  line  of  light  that 
marked  the  beginning  of  Salt  Lake — the  whole  flat 
as  a  floor  and  sparkling  with  river  and  irrigating 
canals,  and  overlooked  on  both  sides  by  hills  that 


•  SALT   LAKE    CITY.  83 

mounted  to  the  snow  line,  and  out  from  which  flowed 
the  fatness  of  water  and  soil  that  makes  this  once 
desert  valley  blossom  under  the  hand  of  industry 
with  every  variety  of  verdure,  every  product  of 
almost  every  clime. 

No  internal  city  of  the  Continent  lies  in  such  a 
field  of  beauty,  unites  such*  rich  and  rare  elements 
of  nature's  formations,  holds,  such  guarantees  of 
greatness,  material  and  social,  in  the  good  time 
coming  of  our  Pacific  development.     I  met  all  alon^r 
the  Plains  and  over  the  mountains,  the  feeling  that  1 
Salt  Lake  was  to  be  the  great  central  city  of  this   I 
West ;  I  found  the  map,  with  Montana,  Idaho,  and    \ 
Oregon  on  the  north,  Dacotah  and  Colorado  on  the — 
east,  Nevada  and  California  on  the  west,  Arizona 
on  the  south,  and  a  near  connection  with  the  sea  by 
the  Colorado  River  in  the  latter  direction,  suggested 
the  same :  I  recognized  it  in  the  Sabbath  morning 
picture  of  its  location  and  possessions ;  I  am  con— -a 
vinced  of  it  as  I  see  more  and  more  of  its  opportu-  1 
nities,  its  developed  industries,  and  its  unimproved/1 
possessions. 

Mr.  Colfax's  reception  in  Utah  was  excessive  if 
not  oppressive.     There  was  an  element  of  rivalry!, 
between  Mormon  and  Gentile  in  it,  adding  earnest-X" 
ness    and   energy  to   enthusiasm   and  hospitality. 
First  "a  troop  cometh,"  with  band  of  music,  and 
marched  us  slowly  and  dustily  through  their  Camp 
Douglas.     Then,  escaping  these,  our  coach  was  way 
laid  as  it  went  down  the  hill  by  the  Mormon  au 
thorities  of  the  city.     They  ordered  us  to  dismount  / 
we  were  individually  introduced  to  each  of  twenty 


84  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT.  « 

of  them;  we  received  a  long  speech;  we  made  a 
long  one — standing  in  the  hot  sand  with  a  sun  of 
forty  thousand  lens-power  concentrated  upon  us, 
tired  and  dirty  with  a  week's  coach-ride:  was  it 
wonder  that  the  mildest  of  tempers  rebelled? — 
transferred  to  other  carriages,  our  hosts  drove  us 
through  the  city  to  the  hotel ;  and  then — bless  their 
Mormon  hearts — they  took  us  at  once  to  a  hot  sul 
phur  bath,  that  nature  liberally  offers  just  on  the 
confines  of  the  city,  and  there  we  washed  out  all 
remembrance  of  the  morning  suffering  and  all  the 
accumulated  grime  and  fatigue  of  the  journey,  and 
came  out  baptized  in  freshness  and  self-respect. 
Clean  clothes,  dinner,  the  Mormon  tabernacle  in 
the  afternoon,  and  a  Congregational  ("Gentile") 
meeting  and  sermon  in  the  evening,  were  the  other 
proceedings  of  our  first  day  in  Utah. 

Since,  and  still  continuing,  Mr.  Colfax  and  his 
friends  have  been  the  recipients  of  a  generous  and 
thoughtful  hospitality.  They  are  the  guests  of  the 
city;  but  the  military  authorities  and  citizens  vie 
together  as  well  to  please  their  visitors  and  make 
them  pleased  with  Utah  and  its  people.  The  Mor 
mons  are  eager  to  prove  their  loyalty  to  the  gov 
ernment,  their  sympathy  with  its  bereavement,  their 
joy  in  its  final  triumph — which  their  silence  or  their 
slants  and  sneers  heretofore  had  certainly  put  in 
some  doubt — and  they  leave  nothing  unsaid  or  un 
done  now,  towards  Mr.  Colfax  as  the  representative 
of  that  government,  or  towards  the  public,  to  give 
assurance  of  their  rightmindedness.  Also  they 
wish  us  to  know  that  they  are  not  monsters  and 


PICNIC    AT    SALT    LAKE.  85 

murderers,  but  men  of  intelligence,  virtue,  good 
manners  and  fine  tastes.  They  put  their  polygamy 
on  high  moral  and  religious  grounds ;  and  for  the 
rest,  anyhow,  are  not  willing  to  be  thought  other 
wise  than  our  peers.  And  certainly  we  do  find  here 
a  great  deal  of  true  and  good  human  nature  and 
social  culture ;  a  great  deal  of  business  intelli 
gence  and  activity ;  a  great  deal  of  generous  hos 
pitality — besides  most  excellent  strawberries  and 
green  peas,  and  the  most  promising  orchards  of 
apricots,  peaches,  plums  and  apples  that  these  eyes 
ever  beheld  anywhere.  „  They  have  given  us  a  ser 
enade  ;  and  Mr.  Colfax  has  addressed  them  at  length 
with  his  usual  tact  and  happy  effect,  telling  them 
what  they  have  a  right  to  expect  from  the  govern 
ment,  and  reminding  them  that  the  government 
has  the  right  to  demand  from  them,  in  turn,  loyalty 
to  the  Constitution  and  obedience  to  the  laws,  and 
complimenting  them  on  all  the  beauty  of  their 
homes  and  the  thrift  of  their  industry.  Governor 
Bross  and  Mr.  Richardson  also  made  happy  ad 
dresses,  and  the  crowd  of  the  evening,  and  the 
"distinguished  guests"  gave  every  sign  of  being 
mutually  pleased  with  each  other. 

We  have  been  taken  on  an  excursion  to  the  Great 
Salt  Lake,  bathed  in  its  wonderful  waters,  on  which 
you  flSat  like  a  cork,  sailed  on  its  surface,  and  pic 
nicked  by  its  shore, — if  picnic  can  be  without  wo 
men  for  sentiment  and  to  spread  table-cloth,  and 
to  be  helped  up  and  over  rocks.  Can  you  New 
Englanders  fancy  a  "stag"  picnic?  We  have  been 
turned  loose  in  the  big  strawberry  patch  of  one  of 


86  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

the  saints — very  worldly  strawberries  and  more 
worldly  appetites  met  and  mingled;  and  we  have 
had  a  peep  into  a  moderate  Mormon  harem,  but 
being  introduced  to  two  different  women  of  the 
same  name,  one  after  another,  was  more  than  I 
could  stand  without  blushing. 

In  Mormon  etiquette,  President  Brigham  Young 
is  called  upon ;  by  Washington  fashion,  the  Speaker 
is  also  called  upon,  and  does  not  call — there  was  a 
question  whether  the  distinguished  resident  and  the 
distinguished  visitor  would  meet;  Mr.  Colfax,  as 
was  meet  under  the  situation  of  affairs  here,  made 
a  point  upon  it,  and  gave  notice  he  should  not  call ; 
whereupon  President  Brigham  yielded  the  question, 
and  graciously  came  to-day  with  a  crowd  of  high 
dignitaries  of  the  church,  and  made,  not  one  of 
Emerson's  prescribed  ten  minute  calls,  but  a  gen 
erous,  pleasant,  gossiping  sitting  of  two  hours  long. 
He  is  a  very  hale  and  hearty  looking  man,  young 
for  sixty-four,  with  a  light  gray  eye,  cold  and  uncer 
tain,  a  mouth  and  chin  betraying  a  great  and  deter 
mined  will — handsome  perhaps  as  to  presence  and 
features,  but  repellent  in  atmosphere  and  without 
magnetism.  In  conversation,  he  is  cool  and  quiet 
in  manner,  but  suggestive  in  expression  ;  has  strong 
and  original  ideas,  but  uses  bad  grammar.  He  was 
rather  formal,  but  courteous,  and  at  the  last  Effected 
frankness  and  freedom,  if  he  felt  it  not.  To  his 
followers,  I  observed  he  was  master  of  that  pro 
found  art  of  eastern  politicians,  which  consists  in 
putting  the  arm  affectionately  around  them,  and 
tenderly  inquiring  for  health  of  selves  and  families ; 


HEBER    K1MBALL,  ET   AL.  8/ 

and  when  his  eye  did  sparkle  and  his  lips  soften,  it 
was  with  most  cheering,  though  not  warming,  ef 
fect — it  was  pleasant  but  did  not  melt  you. 

Of  his  companions,  Heber  C.  Kimball  is  perhaps 
the  most  notorious  from  his  vulgar  and  coarse 
speech.  He  ranks  high  among  the  "prophets" 
here,  and  is  as  unctuous  in  his  manner  as  Macassar 
hair  oil,  and  as  pious  in  phrase  as  good  old  Thomas 
a  K!empis.  He  has  a  very  keen,  sharp  eye,  and  looks 
like  a  Westfield  man  I  always  meet  at  the  agricul 
tural  fairs  in  Springfield.  Dr.  Bernhisel  has  an  air 
of  culture  and  refinement  peculiar  among  his  asso 
ciates  ;  he  is"  an  old,  small  man,  venerable,  and  sug 
gestive  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  or  Dr.  Gannett  of 
Boston,  in  his  style.  Two  or  three  others  of  the 
company  have  fine  faces — such  as  you  would  meet 
in  intellectual  or  business  society  in  Boston  or  New 
York, — but  the  strength  of  most  of  the  party  seems 
to  lie  in  narrowness,  bigotry,  obstinacy.  They  look 
as  if  they  had  lived  on  the  same  farms  as  their 
fathers  and  grandfathers,  and  made  ro  improve 
ments  ;  gone  to  the  same  church,  and  sat  in  the 
same  pew,  without  cushions ;  borrowed  the  same 
weekly  newspaper  for  forty,  years ;  drove  all  their 
children  to  the  West  or  the  cities ;  and  if  they  went 
to  agricultural  fairs,  insisted  on  having  their  pre 
miums  in  pure  coin. 

But  the  hospitality  of  Utah  is  not  confined  to 
the  Mormons.  The  "Gentiles"  or  non-Mormons 
are  becoming  numerous  and  influential  here,  and, 
citizens  and  soldiers,  comprise  many  families  of 
culture  and  influence.  They  are  made  up  of  offi- 


88  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

cers  of  the  federal  government,  resident  represen 
tatives  of  telegraph  and  stage  lines,  members  of 
eastern  or  California  business  firms  having  branches 
here,  and  a  very  fair  proportion,  too,  of  the  mer 
chants  of  the  city.  Some  of  the  more  intelligent 
of  the  disgusted  and  repentant  Mormons  swell  the 
circle.  They  have  organized  a  literary  association, 
established  a  large  and  growing  Sunday  school, 
largely  made  up  of  children  of  Mormon  parents, 
have  weekly  religious  services  led  by  the  chaplain 
at  Camp  Douglas,  conduct  an  able  and  prosperous 
daily  paper  (the  Union  Vedette,)  and  in  every  way 
are  developing  an  organized  and  effective  opposition 
to  the  dominant  power  here.  These  people,  united, 
earnest  and  enthusiastic  as  minorities  always  are, 
claim  a  share  in  entertaining  Mr.  Colfax  and  his 
friends,  and  gave  them  a  large  and  most  brilliant 
social  party  last  night.  They  are  not  reluctant  to 
show  us  their  ladies,  as  the  Mormons  generally  seein 
to  be,  and  their  ladies  are  such,  in  beauty  and  cul 
ture,  as  no  circle  need  be  ashamed  of.  The  enjoy 
ment  of  this  social  entertainment  of  music,  Conver 
sation,  dancing  and  refreshments,  was  sadly  and 
only  broken  by  the  announcement  during  the  even 
ing  of  the  sudden  death  of  the  territorial  governor, 
Judge  Doty,  formerly  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin. 


LETTER    IX. 

MORMON    MATERIALITIES. 


*'  SALT  LAKE  CITY,  June  16. 

THE  Necessity  of  all  Agriculture,  on  the  Plains, 
among  the  Mountains,  on  the  Pacific 
all  the  western  half  of  our  Continent,  i 


The  long,  dry  summers,  frequently  months  without 
rain,  the  hot  sun  and  dry  winds,  the  clayey  charac 
ter  of  the  soil,  all  ensure  utter  defeat  to  the  farmer's 
business,  except  he  helps  his  crops  to  water  by  arti 
ficial  means.  But  in  Utah,  agriculture  is  the  chiefs 
business  ;  its  population  of  one  hundred  and  twenty! 
thousand  inhabitants,  live  by  it,  prosper  by  it,  have! 
built  up  a  State  upon  it.  Irrigation  is,  therefore,  uni 
versal  and  extensive  ;  the  streams  that  pour  down 
from  the  mountains  are  tapped  at  various  elevations, 
the  water  carried  away  by  canals,  big  and  little,  to 
the  gardens  and  meadows  cultivated,  and  thence,  by 
numerous  little  courses,  one  in  three  or  four  feet, 
spread  over  the  whole  extent,  over  the  grain,  be 
tween  the  rows  of  corn,  of  trees,  of  vegetables. 
Individuals,  villages,  companies  perform  this  work, 
as  a  less  or  greater  scale  of  it  is  required.  The 
water  is  apportioned  among  the  fakers  according  to 


9O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

their  land  or  their  payments.  Each  one  gets  his 
share ;  and  when  the  supply  is  scant,  as  is  often  the 
case,  each  one  suffers  in  like  degree. 

Salt  Lake  City  is  thus  irrigated,  mainly  from  one 
mountain  stream;  bright,  sparkling  brooks  course 
freely  and  constantly  down  its  paved  gutters,  keep 
ing  the  shade  trees  alive  and  growing,  supplying 
drink  for  aninals  and  water  for  household  purposes, 
and  delightfully  cooling  the  summer  air;  besides 
being  drawn  off  in  right  proportion  for  the  use  of 
each  garden.  Once  a  week  is  the  ruie  for  thus 
watering  each  crop ;  to-day  a  man  takes  enough  for 
one  portion  of  his  garden ;  to-morrow  for  another ; 
and  so  through  his  entire  possessions  and  the  week. 
Under  this  regular  stimulus,  with  a  strong  soil  made 
up  of  the  wash  of  the  mountains,  the  finest  of  crops 
are  obtained ;  the  vegetable  bottom  lands  of  your 
own  Connecticut  and  of  the  western  prairies  cannot 
vie  with  the  products  of  the  best  gardens  and  farms 
of  these  Pacific  valleys,  under  this  system  of  irriga 
tion.  There  needs  to  be  rain  enough  in  the  spring 
or  winter  moisture  remaining  to  start  the  seeds, 
and  there  generally  is ;  after  that,  the  regular  sup 
ply  of  water  keeps  the  plants  in  a  steady  and  rapid 
growth,  that  may  well  be  supposed  to  produce  far 
finer  results,  than  the  struggling,  uneven  progress 
of  vegetation  under  dependence  upon  the  skies — 
a  week  or 'a  month  of  rain,  and  then  a  like  pro 
longation  of  sunshine.  The  gardens  in  the  cities 
/  and  villages  are  tropical,  in  their  rich  greenness  and 
/  luxuriance.  I  do  not  believe  the  same  space  of 
I  ground  anywhere  Qlse  in  the  country  holds  so  much 


THE   IRRIGATION    IN    UTAH. 
. 

and  so  fine  fruit  and  vegetables  as  the  city  of  Salt 
Lake  to-day. 

The  soil  of  these  valleys  is  especially  favorable 
to  the  small  grains.  Fifty  and  sixty  bushels  is  a 
very  common  crop  of  wheat,  oats  and  barley ;  and 
over  ninety  have  been  raised.  President  Young 
once  raised  ninety-three  and  a  half  bushels  of  wheat 
on  a  single  acre.  I  should  say  the  same  soil  located 
in  the  East,  and  taking  its  chances  without  irriga 
tion,  would  not  produce  half  what  it  does  here  with 
irrigation.  Laborious  and  expensive  as  the  process 
must  be,  the  large  crops  and  high  prices  obtained 
for  them  make  it  to  pay.  Over  all  this  country, 
that  is  forced  to  have  an  irrigated  farming,  there  is 
no  business  that  now  pays  so  well,  not  even  mining, 
and  nowhere  else  in  the  whole  Nation  is  agriculture 
so  profitable.  But  the  mountain  snows  do  not  pro 
vide  half  the  water  the  valleys  need.  Many  a  broad 
and  beautiful  valley  goes  unredeemed  from  a  dry, 
half-barren  vegetation,  for  the  lack  of  water  to  be 
put  upon  it.  Salt  Lake  City  has  exhausted  its  pres 
ent  supply,  and  now  contemplates  a  grand  canal 
from  Utah  Lake,  thirty  miles  off,  to  provide  water 
for  its  extending  gardens  and  the  wide  valley  below 
and  beyond  the  city, — the  most  of  which  is  now  only 
a  poor  and  growing  poorer  pasture,  but  which  with 
irrigation  will  become  as  productive  farming  land  as 
lies  under  the  shadow  of  the  Republic. 

The  country  drained  by  the  Great'  Salt  Lake  is 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  east  and  west,  and 
two  hundred  and  fifty  north  and  south.  Four  or 
five  large  streams  of  fresh  water  pour  into  it ;  but  it 


Q2  ACROSS   THE   CONTINENT. 

has  not  a  single  visible  outlet,  and  its  water  is  one- 
fourth  solid  salt — two  mysteries  that  mock  science 
and  make  imagination  ridiculous.  Other  salt  is 
found  in  the  country ;  there  is  a  mountain  of  rock 
salt  a  few  miles  away ;  and  below  in  Arizona  is  a 
similar  mountain  whose  salt  is  as  pure  as  finest 
glass.  President  Young  showed  us  a  brick  of  it  to 
day,  that  excited  our  surprise  and  delight  as  much  as 
any  novelty  we  have  seen  on  our  journey.  The  Ter 
ritory  of  Utah  covers  the  region  drained  by  the  Salt 
Lake,  and  perhaps  one  hundred  miles  more  both  in 
breadth  and  length.  But  the  Mormon  settlements 
extend  one  hundred  miles  farther  into  Idaho  on  the 
north,  and  perhaps  two  hundred  miles  into  Arizona 
on  the  south,  clinging  close,  through  their  entire 
length  of  six  hundred  to  seven  hundred  miles,  to  a 
narrow  belt  of  country  hardly  more  than  fifty  miles 
wide ;  for  on  the  east  of  this  are  the  mountains,  and 
to  the  west,  the  great  Central  American  Desert,  that 
forms  part  of  the  great  internal  basin  of  this  section 
of  the  Continent,  and  leads  the  traveler  on  to  the 
Sierra  Nevada  mountains  of  the  Pacific  States. 

These  settlements  are  mostly  small,  counting  in 
habitants  by  hundreds,  gathered  about  the  course 
of  a  mountain  stream  ;  but  there  are  several  places 
of  considerable  importance,  as  Provo  at  the  South 
and  Ogden  City  at  the  North.  Their  extension 
south  into  the  valley  of  the  Colorado,  paves  the  way 
to  the  successful  working  of  a  favorite  commercial 
idea  of  the  leading  business  men  here,  which  is  the 
use  of  the  Gulf  of  California  and  the  Colorado  River, 
which  empties  into  it,  for  the  great  avenue  of  trade ; 


THE    COLORADO    ROUTE    FOR    COMMERCE.         93 

for  bringing  in  the  supplies  of  goods  needed  here, 
and  for  sending  out  such  surplus  products,  agricul 
tural  and  mineral,  as  these  interior  valleys  are  offer 
ing.  The  Colorado  is  found  to  be  navigable  for 
steamboats  for  four  hundred  miles,  or  to  within  six 
hundred  miles  of  this  city,  and -the  substitution  of 
this  reduced  distance  of  land  carriage,  open  all  the 
year,  through  their  own  Territory,  and  up  Valley 
roads,  for  seven  hundred  miles  to  San  Francisco  or 
over  one  thousand  miles  to  the  Missouri  River, 
through  deserts  and  over  mountains,  and  often  in 
terrupted  by  rivers,  is  a  manifest  improvement  and 
advantage  for  the  commerce  of  this  country,  that 
can  hardly  be  overestimated.  There  are  already 
steamers  on  the  Colorado,  and  some  of  the  mer 
chants  are  having  goods  come  over  the  route  by 
way  of  experiment.  If  it  succeeds,  as  seems  quite 
certain,  then  the  heavy  trade  of  Utah  and  its  de 
pendencies  will  come  and  go  from  New  York  by 
wray  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  around  Cape 
Horn,  and  merchants  here,  instead  cf  having  to  buy 
a  year's  supply  of  goods  at  once,  can  market  several 
times  a  year,  and  do  business  with  much  less  capi 
tal  and  at  much  greater  advantage  otherwise. 
/  Trie  policy  of  the  Mormon  leaders  has  been  to 
/  confine  their  people  to  agriculture ;  to  develop  a 
self-sustaining,  rural  population,  quiet,  frugal,  indus 
trious,  scattered  in  small  villages,  and  so  managea 
ble  by  the  church  organization.  So  far,  this  policy 
has  been  admirably  successful ;  and  it  has  created 
an  industry  and  a  production  here,  in  the  center  of 
the  western  half  of  our  Continent,  of  immense  im- 


94 


ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 


portance  and  value  to  the  future  growth  of  the  re 
gion.  A  few  of  the  simpler  manufactures  have 
been  introduced  of  late,  but  these  are  not  in  conflict 
with  the  general  policy.  There  are  three  cotton 
mills,  confined  to  cotton  yarns,  however,  almost  ex 
clusively,  and  one  woolen  mill.  Probably  there 
are  a  hundred  flouring  mills  in  the  Territory  also. 
Flour,  the  grains,  butter,  bacon,  dried  peaches,  home 
made  socks  and  yarn,  these  are  the  chief  articles 
produced  in  excess  and  sold  to  emigrants  and  for 
the  mining  regions  in  the  North.  Probably  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds  of  dried  peaches  were 
sold  for  Idaho  and  Montana  last  year.  Hides  are 
plenty ;  there  is  a  good  tannery  here ;  and  also  a 
manufactory  of  boots  and  shoes.  Cotton  grows 
abundantly  in  the  southern  settlements ;  and  ex 
periments  with  flax,  the  mulberry  tree  and  the  silk 
worm  are  all  successful. 

As  to  mining,  the  influence  of  the  church  has 
been  against  it.  There  have  been  no  placer  or  sur 
face  diggings  discovered  to  offer  temptations  to  the 
mass  of  the  people  ;  and  th%  leaders  affect  to  be 
lieve  that  the  ores  so  far  found  are  not  valuable 
enough  to  pay  for  working.  They  have  a  reason 
for  discouraging  mining,  of  course,  in  the  sure  con 
viction  that  it  would  introduce  a  population  and 
influences  antagonistic  to  the  order  and  power  of 
the  church.  Iron,  they  admit,  exists  in  large  quan 
tities,  especially  in  the  southern  mountains,  and 
they  have  made  some  attempts  to  develop  it,  but 
without  great  success,  for  the  reason,  as  they  say, 
that  they  had  not  the  proper  workmen  and  materials 


THE    MINES    OF    MORMONDOM.  95 

to  do  it  with.  But  as  to  gold  anct  silver,  they  are 
incredulous  ;  and  not  only  that,  but  President  Young 
argues  that  the  world  has  many  times  more  of  both 
than  it  needs  for  financial  purposes ;  that  the  coun 
try  is  poorer  to-day  for  all  the  mining  of  gold  and 
silver  in  the  last  twenty  years ;  and  that  for  every 
dollar  gained  by  it,  four  dollars  have  been  expended. 
But  these  views  are  not  likely  to  gain  wide  acqui 
escence.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
mountains  of  Utah  are  rich  in  the  precious  metals — 
perhaps  not  so  much  so  as  other  States  and  Territo 
ries,  but  still  enough  so  to  tempt  miners  and  capital 
ists  to  invest  in  the  business  of  developing  them  in 
rivalry  with  Nevada  and  Colorado.  So  far,  the  dis 
coveries  have  been  chiefly  of  silver,  in  connection 
with  large  deposits  of  lead  and  copper.  Our  party 
have  spent  two  interesting  days  this  week  in  an  ex 
cursion  about  forty  miles  into  an  adjoining  beautiful 
valley,  where  some  valuable  developments  have  been 
made  in  this  line.  Most  of  the  discoveries  have 
been  made  by  soldiers  in  General  Conner's  com 
mand — volunteers  from  the  mining  regions  of  Cali 
fornia  and  Nevada — who  have  been  stationed  in 
this  vicinity  for  the  last  two  years;  and  most  of 
those  whose  terms  have  expired  have  gone  to  work 
to  improve  and  develop  them.  We  found  among 
the  various  canyons  or  ravines  of  the  Rush  Valley 
a  hundred  or  two  of  mines  freshly  discovered  and 
worked  out  to  various  depths  of  ten  to  one  hundred 
feet.  Colonel  George,  who,  in  the  absence  of  Gen 
eral  Connor  to  fight  the  Indians,  is  in  command  of 
the  camp  here,  accompanied  us,  and  saw  the  lodes 


96  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

for  the  first  time.  He  is  an  old  Nevada  miner,  and 
he  says  these  promise  much  better — fifty  per  cent, 
better — than  the  famous  silver  mines  of  that  young 
State.  There,  fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars  of  silver 
from  a  ton  of  ore  is  considered  highly  profitable  and 
satisfactory ;  here,  the  surface  ore  assays  from  one 
hundred  to  five  hundred  dollars  a  ton,  and  in  sev 
eral  cases  lodea  have  been  opened  that  assay  from 
one  thousand  to  four  thousand  dollars  to  the  ton. 
The  last  figure  is  obtained  from  one  just  opened 
and  named  the  New  York  lead.  The  farther  the 
mines  are  worked,  the  richer  grows  the  ore.  The 
Mormons  say  they  will  soon  "work  out ;  but  the 
miners  have  faith,  and  are  working  away  with  all 
the  capital  and  labor  they  can  command.  At  pres 
ent,  the  ore  is  easily  worked,  and  does  not  demand 
expensive  machinery  like  stamp  mills  and  steam  or 
water  power.  Smelting  furnaces  are  the  chief  ne 
cessity  to  reduce  the  ore  to  its  elements,  and  sepa 
rate  the  metal  from  the  dross.  As  the  mines  are 
further  worked,  the  ore  will  probably  grow  harder, 
and  require  more  elaborate  processes. 

General  Connor,  who  is  an  old  Californian,  has 
large  faith  in  these  prospectings,  has  taken  much 
interest  in  their  development,  and  has  located  and 
is  building  up  a  town,  called  Stockton,  near  them, 
in  the  Rush  Valley.  Here  we  found  a  population 
of  perhaps  two  hundred,  all  "Gentiles,"  many  of 
them  old  soldiers,  and  all  full  of  faith  and  zeal  in 
their  new  enterprise.  Major  Gallagher,  formerly  of 
General  Connor's  California  regiment,  is  living  here 
as  the  general's  agent,  and  as  farmer  and  miner  on 


THE   PROMISE    OF   UTAH.  9/ 

his  own  responsibility.  We  spent  the  night  at  the 
"government  reserves,"  two  miles  beyond  Stockton, 
by  the  shore  of  Rush  Lake ;  these  reserves  being 
valuable  land's  selected  some  years  ago  by  Colonel 
Steptoe,  as  likely  to  be  needed  for  government  uses, 
and  now  thus  appropriated  for  supplies  of  wood  for 
the  camp  in  town  and  to  pasture  surplus  horses. 
Here  we  met  a  rough  but  generous  hospitality,  a 
midnight  supper,  a  roaring  open  fire,  and  beds  on  the 
floor  and  in  the  stable-yards ;  but  we  slept  soundly, 
ate  heartily,  and  gathered  sweetest  of  flowers  amid 
a  snow-storm  on  the  hill-sides,  the  next  day,  as  we 
wandered  about  in  search  of  the  silver  lodes. 

In  the  more  remote  parts  of  the  Territory,  other 
silver  mines  have  been  discovered,  and  are  being 
worked  with  success.  Their  distance  from  markets, 
the  necessity  of  more  or  less  machinery  for  their 
profitable  operation,  and  the  lack  of  capital  among 
those  who  have  discovered  the  lodes,  are  obstacles 
to  their  rapid  development ;  but  judging  from  all  I 
can  see  and  learn,  there  is  no  good  reason  to  doubt 
their  great  value,  and  sufficient  cause  to  regard 
them  as  offering  one  of  the  best  fields  for  wisely 
investing  capital  and  labor  in  all  the  mining  regions, 
and  to  predict  ere  long  such  an  interest  and  excite 
ment  in  regard  to  them,  as  will  give  Utah  a  new 
population  and  rapid  growth,  and  place  her  among 
the  first  of  the  mining  States.  The  antecedent, 
achieved  development  of  her  agricultural  capacities, 
her  settled  population  and  her  gathered  and  organ 
ized  civilization  will  then  prove  of  a  great  advan 
tage,  and  be  properly  appreciated. 

5  7 


'LETTER    X. 

SALT    LAKE    CITY   AND    LIFE    THERE. 


SALT  LAKE  CITY,  Saturday,  June  17. 
IN  the  "great  and  glorious  future"  of  our  Fourth 
of  July  orations,  when  polygamy  is  extinct,  the  Pa 
cific  Railroad  built,  and  the  mines  developed,  Salt 
Lake  City  will  be  not  only  the  chief  commercial 
city  of  the  mountains,  the  equal  of  St.  Louis  and 
Chicago,  but  one  of  the  most  beautiful  residence 
cities  and  most  attractive  watering-places  on  the 
Continent.  Its  admirable  location  and  early  de 
velopment  secure  the  one  ;  its  agreeable  climate  for 
eight  months  in  the  year,  at  least,  and  the  surpass 
ing  beauty  of  its  location,  with  its  ample  supply  of 
water,  its  fruits  and  vegetables,  will  add  the  second ; 
and  joining  to  all  these  circumstances,  its  snow 
capped  mountains,  its  hot  sulphur  springs,  and  its 
Great  Salt  Lake,  and  we  have  the  elements  of  the 
third  fact.  There  are  two  principal  sulphur  springs, 
one  hot  enough  (one  hundred  and  twenty  degrees) 
to  boil  an  egg,  which  is  four  miles  from  the  center 
of  the  city,  and  the  other  just  the  right  temperature 
for  a  hot  bath,  (ninety  degrees,)  which  is  close  to 
the  city,  and  is  already  brought  into  a  large  enclos- 


SALT   LAKE    CITY  AS   A  WATERING-PLACE.        99 

ure  for  free  bathing  purposes.  Both  these  streams 
are  large  enough  for  illimitable  bathing ;  the  water 
is  as  highly  sulphurized  and  as  clear  as  that  of  the 
celebrated  Sharon  Springs ;  and  its  use,  either  for 
drinking  or  for  baths,  most  effective  in  purifying  the 
blood  and  toning  up  the.  system.  Other  and  smaller 
springs  of  the  same  character  have  been,  found  in 
the  neighborhood. 

Then  the  Lake  opens  another  field  of  attractions  ; 
it  is  a  miniature  ocean,  about  fifteen  miles  from  the 
city,  fifty  miles  wide  by  one  hundred  long; — the 
briniest  sheet  of  water  known  on  the  Continent, — 
so  salt  that  no  fish  can  live  in  it,  and  that  three 
quarts  of  it  will  boil  down  to  one  quart  of  fine,  pure 
salt, — but  most  delicious  and  refreshing  for  bathing, 
floating  the  body  as  a  cork  on  the  surface, — only 
the  brine  must  be  kept  from  mouth  and  eyes  under 
the  penalty  of  a.  severe  smarting ; — with  its  high 
rocky  islands  and  crestfull  waves  and  its  superb 
sunsets,  picturesque  and  enchanting  to  look  upon ; 
while  its  broad  expanse  offers  wide  space  for  sailing, 
and  every  chance  for  sea-sickness.  Count  up  all 
these  features  for  a  watering-place ;  and  where  will 
you  find  a  Newport,  a  Saratoga  or  a  Sharon  that 
has  the  half  of  them  ?  So,  ye  votaries  of  fashion, 
ye  rheumatic  cripples,  ye  victims  of  scrofula  and 
ennui,  prepare  to  pack  your  trunks  at  the  sound  of 
the  first  whistle  of  the  train  for  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains,  for  a  season  at  Salt  Lake  City. 

The  city  is  regularly  laid  out  into  squares  of  ten 
acres  each,  and  these  into  lots  of  one  acre  and  a 
quarter,  only  farther  subdivided  in  the  business  or 


IOO  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

more  thickly  populated  streets.  The  building  ma 
terial  is  mostly  sun-dried  bricks,  (called  adobe,) 
covered  with  plaster,  and  the  houses  are  generally 
of  one  story,  covering  much  space  and  with  as 
many  front  doors  as  the  owner  has  wives.  A  few 
of  the  newer  stores  are  built  of  stone,  and  are  ele 
gant  and  capacious  within  and  without.  Brigham , 
Young's  establishment  occupies  a  full  square,  and 
embraces  several  dwellings,  a  school  house  for  his 
forty  or  fifty  children,  extensive  stables,  a  grist  mill, 
a  carpenter's  shop,  and  the  "tithing"  office.  .  An 
opposite  square  is  devoted  to  church  purposes ;  and 
here  is  the  old  Tabernacle,  a  new  and  larger  one 
partly  done,  and  the  foundations  of  the  great  Tem 
ple,  which,  if  ever  completed,  according  to  the  de 
sign,  will  be  the  finest  church  edifice  in  America. 
Nothing  is  doing  upon  it  now.  Within  the  same 
enclosure  is  the  "Bowery,"  an  immense  thatch  of 
green  boughs,  covering  space  for  an  audience  of 
several  thousands.  Here  the  general  Sunday  ser 
vices  are  held  during  the  warm  weather.  Both 
these  squares,  President  Young's  and  the  church 
grounds,  are  enclosed  by  solid  walls  of  mud  and 
stones,  twelve  feet  high,  and  walls  of  a  like  charac 
ter  are  even  used  for  fences  about  many  of  the  resi 
dences. 

There  are  very  large  mercantile  interests  here. 
Several  firms  do  a  business  of  a  million  dollars  or 
more  each,  a  year,  and  keep  on  hand  stocks  of  goods 
of  the  value  of  a  quarter  of  a  million.  They  fre 
quently  have  subsidiary  stores  in  other  parts  of  the 
Territory  to  the  number  of  four  or  six.  Their 


BUSINESS    AND    PRICES    IN    UTAH.  IOI 

freights  are  enormous,  and  sometimes  their  goods 
are  a  year  on  the  way  hither.-.  One  firm  has  just 
received  a  stock  of  goods,  costing  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  that  was  bought  in  New  'York  last 
June.  It  got  caught  on  the  Plains  by  early  snow, 
last  fall,  and  had  to  winter  on  the  way.  Another 
leading  merchant  paid  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou 
sand  dollars  for  freights  last  year.  One  lot  o^ 
goods,  groceries,  hardware,  dry  goods,  everything, 
was  found  to  have  cost,  on  reaching  here,  just  one 
dollar  a  pound,  adding  to  original  purchase  the  cost 
of  freighting,  which  from  New  York  to  this  point 
averages  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  cents  a  pound. 
It  of  course  requires  large  capital  and  courage  to 
enter  upon  tht  mercantile  business  here  under  such 
circumstances.  Prices,  too,  must  rule  high ;  and 
when  the  supply  is  short,  as  it  was  last  year,  and 
the  demand  large,  great  profits  are  realized;  and 
again,  with  an  overstocked  market  and  a  small  sale, 
there  is  danger  of  heavy  losses.  One  concern 
made  seventy-five  per  cent,  profit  last  year,  but  this 
season  promises  poorly;  and  the  stocks  on  hand 
cannot,  in  many  cases,  be  sold  for  their  cost.  I 
give  the  ruling  rates  for  some  of  the  leading  arti 
cles,  both  of  native  production  and  imported  :  beef 
twelve  to  twenty  cents,  mutton  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  cents,  pork  fifty  cents,  bacon  seventy-five  cents, 
hams  one  dollar,  wood  eighteen  dollars  per  cord, 
lumber  one  hundred  dollars  per  thousand,  butter 
fifty  cents,  sugar  seventy-five  to  eighty-five  cents, 
coffee  one  dollar  to  one  dollar  and  ten  cents,  green 
tea  (almost  universal  on  the  Plains  and  in  the  moun- 


102  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

tains)  three  and  a  half  to  five  dollars,  tobacco  two 
to  two 'dollars  and -a  half,  axes  four  dollars  and  a  half, 
heavy  brown  sheetings  eighty-five  to  ninety  cents, 
fine  seven.ty-.a  ye  tc;  ninety  oeilts,  prints  twenty-five 
to  forty  cents,  dried  apples  sixty  cents,  dried  peaches 
fifty  cents,  molasses  three  to  three  dollars  and  a 
half,  gunpowder  two  dollars,  day  labor  three  dol 
lars,  mechanics  three  to  five  dollars,  clerks  twelve 
hundred  to  three  thousand  dollars  a  year.  The 
only  coal  mines  yet  developed  in  the  Territory  lie 
forty  miles  over  the  mountains  east,  on  our  road 
hither,  and  it  costs  twenty-five  to  thirty  dollars  a 
ton  to  transport  it  to  the  city,  so  that  the  price  for 
it  is  thirty-five  to  forty  dollars.  It  is  a  bituminous 
coal,  and  of  very  fair  quality. 

Your  readers  would  mistake  if  they  supposed 
that  these  prices  enforced  any  poverty  in  living 
among  these  people.  There  are  not  many  abso 
lutely  poor ;  and  the  general  scale  of  living  is  gen 
erous.  In  the  early  years  of  the  Territory,  there 
was  terrible  suffering  for  the  want  of  food ;  many 
were  reduced  to  the  roots  of  the  field  for  sustenance ; 
but  now  there  appears  to  be  an  abundance  of  the 
substantial  necessaries  of  life,  and  as  most  of  the 
population  are  cultivators  of  the  soil,  all  or  nearly  all 
have  plenty  of  food.  And  certainly,  I  have  never 
seen  more  generously  laden  tables  than  have  been 
spread  before  us  at  our  hotel  or  at  private  houses. 
A  dinner  to  our  party  this  evening  by  a  leading 
Mormon  merchant,  at  which  President  Young  and 
the  principal  members  of  his  council  were  present, 
had  as  rich  a  variety  of  fish,  meats,  vegetables, 


BRIGHAM   YOUNGS    THEATER.  IO3 

pastry  and  fruit,  as  I  ever  saw  on  any  private  table 
in  the  East ;  and  the  quality  and  the  cooking  and 
the  serving  were  unimpeachable.  All  the  food,  too, 
was  native  in  Utah.  The  wives  of  our  host  waited 
on  us  most  amicably,  and  the  entertainment  was, 
in  every  way,  the  best  illustration  of  the  practical 
benefits  of  plurality,  that  has  yet  been  presented 
to  us. 

Later  in  the  evening  we  were  introduced  to  an 
other,  and  perhaps  the  most  wonderful,  illustration 
of  the  reach  of  social  and  artificial  li^p  in  this  far 
off  city  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This  was  the 
Theater,  in  which  a  special  performance  was  impro 
vised  in  honor  of  Speaker  Colfax.  The  building  is 
itself  a  rare  triumph  of  art  and  enterprise.  No  east 
ern  city  of  one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants, — re 
member  Salt  Lake  City  has  less  than  twenty  thou 
sand, — possesses  so  fine  a  theatrical  structure.  It 
ranks,  alike  in  capacity  and  elegance  of  structure 
and  finish,  along  with  the  opera-houses  and  acade 
mies  of  music  of  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Chicago  and  Cincinnati.  In  costumes  and  scenery, 
it  is  furnished  with  equal  richness  and  variety,  and 
the  performances  themselves,  though  by  amateurs, 
by  merchants  and  mechanics,  by  wives  and  daugh 
ters  of  citizens,  would  have  done  full  credit  to  a  first- 
class  professional  company.  There  was  first  a  fine 
and  elaborate  drama,  and  then  a  spectacular  farce, 
in  both  which  were  introduced  some  exquisite  dan 
cing,  and  in  one  some  good  singing  also.  I  have 
rarely  seen  a  theatrical  entertainment  more  pleasing 
and  satisfactory  in  all  its  details  and  appointments. 


IO4  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

Yet  the  two  principal  male  characters  were  by  a 
day-laborer  and  a  carpenter;  one  of  the  leading 
lady  parts  was  by  a  married  daughter  of  Brigham 
Young,  herself  the  mother  of  several  children  ;  and 
several  other  of  his  daughters  took  part  in  the  bal 
let,  which  was  most  enchantingly  rendered,  and  with 
great  scenic  effect.  The  house  was  full  in  all  its 
parts,  and  the  audience  embraced  all  classes  of  so 
ciety,  from  the  wives  and  daughters  of  President 
Young, — a  goodly  array, — and  the  families  of  the 
rich  merchants,  to  the  families  of  the  mechanics 
and  farmers  of  the  city  and  valley,  and  the  soldiers 
from  the  camp.  President  Young  built  and  owns 
the  theater,  and  conducts  it  on  his  private  account, 
or  on  that  of  the  church,  as  he  does  many  other  of 
the  valuable  and  profitable  institutions  of  the  Ter 
ritory,  such  as  cotton,  saw  and  flour  mills,  the  best 
farms,  etc. ;  and,  as  he  is  at  no  expense  for  actors 
or  actresses,  and  gets  good  prices  for  admission,  he 
undoubtedly  makes  a  "good  thing'3  out  of  it.  Dur 
ing  the  winter-  season,  performances  are  given  twice 
a  week ;  and  the  theater  proves  a  most  useful  and 
popular  social  center  and  entertainment  for  the 
whole  people.  Its  creation  was  a  wise  and  benefi 
cent  thought. 


LETTER    XI. 

THE    POLYGAMY    QUESTION. 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  June  18. 

OUR  visit  here  closes  in  the  morning.  It  has 
been  very  interesting,  instructive  and  gratifying  to 
us.  We  have  had  unusual  opportunities  for  learn 
ing  the  opinions  of  the  Mormons,  for  studying  their 
institutions,  for  measuring  their  culture  and  capac 
ity,  for'  observing  their  social,  material  and  religious 
development,  and  for  informing  ourselves  as  to  the 
conflict  fast  growing  up  between  them  and  the  non- 
Mormons  who  are  rapidly  accumulating  in  the  com 
munity.  The  leaders  in  the  church  and  in  society 
have  been  generous  and  constant  in  their  hospi 
tality,  and  frank  in  their  conversation,  partly,  I  will 
not  doubt,  from  a  hearty,  human  good  feeling,  and 
partly,  no  doubt,  also,  from  anxiety  as  to  the  future 
policy  of  the  government  towards  them  and  their 
institutions,  and  eagerness  to  propitiate  political  and 
public  opinion  in  their  favor.  We  have  attended 
the  services  at  the  Mormon  Tabernacle  on  two  suc 
cessive  Sabbaths,  on  one  of  which  Brigham  Young 
himself  preached  in  exposition  and  defense  of  the 
doctrines  of  his  church.  Mr.  Colfax  and  his  friends 


IC>6  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

have  also  had  two  long  interviews  with  Brigham 
Young  and  the  other  leaders  01  the  church,  in  one 
of  which  the  peculiar  institution  of  the  people  was 
freely  and  frankly  but  most  earnestly  discussed  by 
all.  The  testimony  and  opinions  of  the  "Gentiles," 
and  of  intelligent  citizens,  men  and  women,  who, 
once  Mormons,  have  now  left  the  church,  have  been 
freely  offered  to  us,  and  gladly  heard.  Valuable 
facts  and  opinions  have  also  been  gathered  from  old 
and  intelligent  citizens,  who  have  held  a  sort  of  in 
dependent  and  neutral  position,  who  are  neither 
polygamists  in  theory  or  practice,  nor  members  of 
the  church,  but  who,  either  from  motives  of  policy 
or  qualities  of  temperament,  have  taken  no  part 
with  the  pronounced  and  denouncing  "Gentiles." 
Nor  have  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  women  in 
polygamy  been  wholly  denied  to  us ;  though  we 
have  not  been  offered  their  society  by  their  hus 
bands  with  any  particular  generosity ; — this,  indeed, 
being  the  only  feature  of  their  hospitality  that  has 
been  measured  and  chary. 

The  result  of  the  whole  experience  has  been  to 
increase  my  appreciation  of  the  value  of  their  ma 
terial  progress  and  development  to  the  nation ;  to 
evoke  congratulations  to  them  and  to  the  country 
for  the  wealth  they  have  created  and  the  order,  fru 
gality,  morality  and  industry  that  have  been  organ 
ized  in  this  remote  spot  in  our  Continent ;  to  excite 
wonder  at  the  perfection  and  power  of  their  church 
system,  the  extent  of  its  ramifications,  the  sweep 
of  its  influence ;  and  to  enlarge  my  respect  for  the 
personal  sincerity  and  character  of  many  of  the 


MORMONISM   NOT   POLYGAMY.  IO/ 

leaders  in  the  organization  ; — also,  and  on  the  other 
hand,  to  deepen  my  disgust  at  their  polygamy,  and 
strengthen  my  convictions  of  its  barbaric  and  de 
grading  influences.  They  have  tried  it  and  prac 
tised  it  under  the  most  favoratye  circumstances, 
perhaps  under  the  mildest  form  possible ;  but,  now 
as  before,  here  as  elsewhere,  it  tends  to  and  means 
only  the  degradation  of  woman.  By  it  and  under 
it,  she  becomes  simply  the  servant  and  serf,  not  the 
companion  and  equal  of  man ;  and  the  inevitable 
influence  of  this  upon  all  society  need  not  be  de 
picted. 

But  I  find  that  Mormonism  is  not  necessarily 
polygamy ;  that  the  one  began  and  existed  for 
many  years  without  the  other;  that  not  all  the 
Mormons  accept  the  doctrine,  and  not  one-fourth, 
perhaps  not  one-eighth  practise  it ;  and  that  the 
Nation  and  its  government  may  oppose  it  and  pun 
ish  it,  without  at  all  interfering  with  the  existence 
of  the  Mormon  church,  or  justly  being  held  as  in 
terfering  with  the  religious  liberty  that  is  the  basis 
of  all  our  institutions.  This  distinction  has  not 
been  sufficiently  understood  heretofore,  and  it  has 
not  been  consistently  acted  upon  by  either  the  gov 
ernment  or  the  public  of  the  East.  Here,  by  the 
people,  who  are  coming  in  to  enjoy  the  opportuni 
ties  of  the  country  for  trade  and  mining,  and  there, 
by  our  rulers  at  Washington  and  by  the  great  pub 
lic,  this  single  issue  of  polygamy  should  be  pressed 
home  upon  the  Mormon  church, — discreetly  and 
with  tact,  with  law  and  with  argument  and  appeal, 
but  with  firmness  and  power. 


IO8  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

Ultimately,  of  course,  before  the  influences  of 
emigration,  civilization  and  our  democratic  habits, 
an  organization  so  aristocratic  and  autocratic  as  the 
Mormon  church  now  is  must  modify  its  rule;  it 
must  compete  with  other  sects,  and  take  its  chance 
with  them.  And  its  most  aristocratic  and  uncivil 
ized  incident  or  feature  of  plurality  of  wives  must 
fall  first  and  completely  before  contact  with  the 
rest  of  the  world, — marshalled  with  mails,  daily 
papers,  railroads  and  telegraphs, — ciphering  out  the 
fact  that  the  men  and  women  of  the  world  are  about 
equally  divided,  and  applying  to  the  Mormon  patri 
archs  the  democratic  principle  of  equal  and  exact 
justice.  Nothing  can  save  this  feature  of  Mor- 
monism  but  new  flight  and  a  more  complete  isola 
tion.  A  kingdom  in  the  sea,  entirely  its  own,  could 
only  perpetuate  it ;  and  thither  even,  commerce  and 
democracy  would  ultimately  follow  it.  The  click  of 
the  telegraph  and  the  roll  of  the  overland  stages 
are  its  death-rattle  now;  the  first  whistle  of  the 
locomotive  will  sound  its  requiem ;  and  the  pick 
ax  of  the  miner  will  dig  its  grave.  Squatter  sov 
ereignty  will  speedily  settle  the  question,  even  if 
the  government  continues  to  coquette  with  it  and 
humor  it,  as  it  has  done. 

But  the  government  should  no  longer  hold  a 
doubtful  or  divided  position  toward  this  great  crime 
of  the  Mormon  church.  Declaring  clearly  both  its 
want  of  power  and  disinclination  to  interfere  at  all 
with  the  church  organization  as  such,  or  with  the  lat- 
ter's  influence  over  its  followers,  assuring  and  guar 
anteeing  to  it  all  the  liberty  and  freedom  that  other 


DUTY   OF    THE    GOVERNMENT. 

religious  sects  hold  and  enjoy,  the  government 
should  still,  as  clearly  and  distinctly,  declare,  by  all 
its  action  and  all  its  representatives  here,  that  this 
feature  of  polygamy,  not  properly  or  necessarily  a 
part  of  the  religion  of  the  Mormons,  is  a  crime  by 
the  common  law  of  all  civilization  and  by  the  stat 
ute  law  of  the  Nation,  and  that  any  cases  of  its  ex 
tension  will  be  prosecuted  and  punished  as  such. 
Now  half  or  two-thirds  the  federal  officers  in  the 
Territory  are  polygamists ;  and  others  bear  no  tes 
timony  against  it.  These  should  give  way  to  men 
who,  otherwise  equally  Mormons  it  may  be,  still  are 
neither  polygamists  nor  believers  in  the  practice 
of  polygamy.  No  employes  or  contractors  of  the 
government  should  be  polygamists  in  theory  or 
practice. 

Here  the  government  should  take  its-  stand, 
calmly,  quietly,  but  firmly,  giving  its  moral  sup 
port  and  countenance,  and  its  physical  support,  if 
necessary  for  fair  play,  to  the  large  class  of  Mor 
mons  who  are  not  polygamists,  to  missionaries  and 
preachers  of  all  other  sects,  who  choose  to  come 
here,  and  erect  their  standards  and  invite  followers ; 
and  to  that  growing  public  opinion,  here  and  else 
where,  which  is  accumulating  its  inexorable  force 
against  an  institution  which  has  not  inaptly  been 
termed  a  twin  barbarism  with  slavery.  There  is  no 
need  and  no  danger  of  physical  conflict  growing 
up ;  only  a  hot  and  unwise  zeal  and  impatience  on 
the  part  of  the  government  representatives,  and  in 
the  command  of  the  troops  stationed  here,  could 
precipitate  that.  The  probability  is,  that,  upon  such 


IIO  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

a  demonstration  by  the  government,  as  I  have  sug 
gested,  the  leaders  of  the  church  would  receive  new 
light  on  the  subject  themselves, — perhaps  have  a 
fresh  revelation,  and  abandon  the  objectionable  fea 
ture  in  their  polity.  No  matter  if  they  did  not, — 
it  would  soon,  under  the  influences  now  rapidly  ag-, 
gregating,  and  thus  reinforced  by  the  government, 
abandon  them. 

In  this  way,  all  violent  conflict  would,  I  believe, 
be  successfully  avoided  ;  and  all  this  valuable  popu 
lation  and  its  industries  and  wealth  may  be  retained 
in  place  and  to  the  Nation,  without  waste.  Let 
them  continue  to  be  Mormons,  if  they  choose,  so 
long  as  they  are  not  polygamists.  They  may  be 
ignorant  and  fanatical,  and  imposed  upon  and  swin 
dled  even,  by  their  church  leaders;  but  they  are 
industrious,  thriving,  and  more  comfortable  than, 
on  an  average,  they  have  ever  been  before  in  the 
homes  from  which  they  came  hither ;  and  there  is 
no  law  against  fanaticism  and  bigotry  and  religious 
charlatanry.  All  these  evils  of  religious  benight- 
ment  are  not  original  in  Utah,  and  they  will  work 
out  their  own  cure  here,  as.  they  have  done  else 
where  in  our  land.  We  must  have  patience  with 
the  present,  and  possibly  forgiveness  for  supposed 
crimes  in  the  past  by  the  leaders,  because  we  have 
heretofore  failed  to  meet  the  issues  promptly  and 
clearly,  and  have  shared  by  our  consent  and  protec 
tion  to  their  authors  in  the  alleged  wrongs. 

The  conversation  I  have  alluded  to  with  Brigham 
Young  and  some  of  his  elders,  on  this  subject  of 
polygamy,  was  introduced  by  his  inquiring  of  Mr. 


DISCUSSION   WITH    BRIGHAM   YOUNG.  Ill 

Colfax  what  the  government  and  people  of  the  East 
proposed  to  do  with  it  and  them,  now  that  they  had 
got  rid  of  the  slavery  question.  The  Speaker  replied 
that  he  had  no  authority  to  speak  for  the  govern 
ment;  but  for  himself,  if  he  might  be  permitted  to 
make  the  suggestion,  he  had  hoped  the  prophets 
of  the  church  would  have  a  new  revelation  on  the 
subject,  which  should  put  a  stop  to  the  practice. 
He  added  further  that,  as  the  people  of  Missouri 
and  Maryland,  without  waiting  for  the  action  of  the 
general  government  against  slavery,  themselves  be 
lieving  it  to  be  wrong  and  an  impediment  to  their 
prosperity,  had  taken  measures  to  abolish  it,  so  he 
hoped  the  people  of  the  Mormon  church  would  see 
that  polygamy  was  a  hindrance  and  not  a  help,  and 
move  for  its  abandonment.  Mr.  Young  responded 
quickly  and  frankly  that  he  should  readily  welcome 
such  a  revelation ;  that  polygamy  was  not  in  the 
original  book  of  the  Mormons:  that  it  was  not  an 
essential  practice  in  the  church,  but  only  a  privilege 
and  a  duty,  under  special  command  of  God ;  that  he 
knew  it  had  been  abused ;  that  people  had  entered 
into  polygamy  who  ought  not  to  have  done  so,  and 
against  his  protestation  and  advice.  At  the  same 
time,  he  defended  the  practice  as  having  biblical  au 
thority,  and  as  having,  within  proper  limits,  a  sound, 
moral  and  philosophical  reason  and  propriety. 

The  discussion,  thus  opened,  grew  general  and 
sharp,  though  ever  good-natured.  Mr.  Young  was 
asked  how  he  got  over  the  fact  that  the  two  sexes 
were  about  equally  divided  all  over  the  world,  and 
that,  if  some  men  had  two,  five,  or  twenty  wives, 


112  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

others  would  have  to  go  without  altogether.  His 
reply  was  that  there  was  always  a  considerable  pro 
portion  of  the  men  who  would  never  marry,  who 
were  old  bachelors  from  choice.  But,  retorted  one, 
are  there  any  more  of  such  than  of  women  who 
choose  to  be  old  maids  ?  Oh  yes,  said  he,  most 
ungallantly;  there  is  not  one  woman  in  a  million 
who  will  not  marry  if  she  gets  a  chance !  One  of 
the  saints,  who  was  pressing  the  biblical  usage  and 
authority  for  many  wives  as  above  all  laws  and  con 
stitutions,  was  asked  as  to  the  effect  of  the  same 
usage  and  authority  for  human  sacrifice, — would 
you,  he  was  asked,  if  commanded  by  God,  offer  up 
your  son  or  your  enemy  as  a  sacrifice,  killing  them  ? 
Yes,  he  promptly  replied.  Then  the  civil  law  would 
lay  its  hands  upon  you  and  stop  you,  and  would  be 
justified  in  doing  so,  was  the  apparently  effective 
answer. 

In  the  course  of  the  discussion,  Mr.  Young  asked, 
suppose  polygamy  is  given  up,  will  not  your  govern 
ment  then  demand  more, — will  it  not  war  upon  the 
Book  of  the  Mormons,  and  attack  our  church  organ 
ization?  The  reply  was  emphatically  No,  that  it 
had  no  right,  and  could  have  no  justification  to  do 
so,  and  that  we  had  no  idea  there  would  be  any  dis 
position  in  that  direction. 

The  talk,  which  was  said  to  be  the  freest  and 
frankest  ever  known  on  that  subject  in  that  pres 
ence,  ended  pleasantly,  but  with  the  full  expression, 
on  the  part  of  Mr.  Colfax  and  his  friends,  of  their 
hope  that  the  polygamy  question  might  be  removed 
from  existence,  and  thus  all  objection  to  the  admis- 


BRIGHAM   YOUNG    ON    THE    REBELS.  IIJ 

sion  of  Utah  as  a  State  be  taken  away;  but  that, 
until  it  was,  no  such  admission  was  possible,  and 
that  the  government  could  not  continue  to  look  in 
differently  upon  the  enlargement  of  so  offensive  a 
practice.  And  not  only  what  Mr.  Young  said,  but 
his  whole  manner  left  with  us  the  impression  that, 
if  public  opinion  and  the  government  united  vigor 
ously,  but  at  the  same  time  discreetly,  to  press  the 
question,  there  would  be  found  some  way  to  acqui 
esce  in  the  demand,  and  change  the  practice  of  the 
present  fathers  of  the  church. 

The  conversation  was  continued  on  the  subjects 
of  punishing  the  leading  rebels,  and  of  slavery  in  the 
abstract.  Mr.  "Aung  favored  slavery  per  se  as  estab 
lished  by  Divine  authority,  but  denounced  the  chat 
tel  system  of  the  South ;  and  he  opposed  the  hang 
ing  of  any  of  the  rebel  chiefs  as  an  unwise  and 
aggravating  policy.  Now  that  peace  is  established, 
let  all  be  pardoned,  he  said ;  but  early  in  or  during 
the  war,  he  would  have  disposed  of  the  rebel  chiefs 
that  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  government  with 
out  mercy  or  hesitation.  Had  he  been  President 
when  Mason  and  Slidell  were  captured,  he  would 
have  speedily  put  them  "where  they  never  would 
peep,"  and  negotiated  with  England  afterwards. 
He  uttered  this  sentiment  with  such  a  wicked 
working  of  the  lower  jaw  and  lip,  and  such  an 
almost  demon-like  spirit  in  his  whole  face,  that, 
quite  disposed  to  be  incredulous  on  those  matters, 
I  could  not  help  thinking  of  the  Mountain  Meadow 
massacre  of  recusant  Mormons,  of  Danites  and 
Avenging  Angels,  and  their  reported  achievements. 

8 


LETTER    XII. 

THE    MORMON    WIVES:    OUR    LAST    DAY   IN    SALT 
LAKE    CITY. 


SALT  LAKE  CITY,  June  18. 

How  do  the  Mormon  women  like  and  bear  po 
lygamy  ?  is  the  question  most  peorJe  ask  as  to  the 
institution.  The  universal  testimony  of  all  but 
their  husbands  is,  that  it  is  a  grievous  sorrow  and 
burden  ;  only  cheerfully  submitted  to  and  embraced 
under  a  religious  fanaticism  and  self-abnegation 
rare  to  behold,  and  possible  only  to  women.  They 
are  taught  to  believe,  and  many  of  them  really  do 
believe,  that  through  and  by  it  they  secure  a  higher 
and  more  glorious  reward  in  the  future  world. 
"  Lord  Jesus  has  laid  a  heavy  trial  upon  me,"  said 
one  poor,  sweet  woman,  "  but  I  mean  to  bear  it  for 
His  sake,  and  for  the  glory  He  will  grant  me  in  His 
kingdom."  This  is  the  common  wail,  the  common 
solace.  Such  are  the  teachings  of  the  church ;  and 
I  have  no  doubt  both  husbands  and  wives  alike 
often  honestly  accept  this  view  of  the  odious  prac 
tice,  and  seek  and  submit  to  polygamy  as  really 
God's  holy  service,  calculated  to  make  saints  of 
themselves  and  all  associated  with  them  in  the  fu 
ture  world. 


.     '  POLYGAMY  AND    WOMAN.  115 

Still  a  good  deal  of  human  nature  is  visible,  both 
among  the  men  in  embracing  polygamy,  and  in 
their  wives  in  submitting  to  it.  Mr.  Young's  testi 
mony  on  this  point  is  significant.  Other  signs  are 
not  wanting  in  the  looks  and  character  of  the  men 
most  often  anointed  in  the  holy  bonds  of  matri 
mony,  and  in  the  well-known  disagreement  of  the 
wives  in  many  families.  In  some  cases  they  live 
harmoniously  and  lovingly  together ;  oftener,  it 
would  seem,  they  have  separate  parts  of  the  same 
house,  or  even  separate  houses.  The  first  wile 
is  generally  the  recognized  one  of  society,  and  fre 
quently  assumes  contempt  for  the  others,  regarding 
them  as  concubines,  and  not  wives.  But  it  is  a 
dreadful  state  of  society  to  any  one  of  fine  feelings 
and  true  instincts;  it  robs  married  life  of  all  its 
sweet  sentiment  and  companionship ;  and  while  it 
degrades  woman,  it  brutalizes  man,  teaching  him 
to  despise  and  domineer  over  his  wives,  over  all 
women.  It  breeds  jealousy,  distrust,  and  tempts  to 
infidelity ;  but  the  police  system  of  the  church  and 
the  community  is  so  strict  and  constant  that  it  is 
claimed  and  believed  the  latter  vice  is  very  rare. 

The  effect  upon  the  children  cannot  help  being 
debasing,  however  well  they  may  be  guarded  and 
educated.  But  it  is  a  chief  failing,  even  a  scandal 
to  the  Mormons,  that,  plentifully  as  they  are  pro 
viding  children,  who  swarm  everywhere  as  did  the 
locusts  in  Egypt,  they  have  organized  no  free 
school  system.  Schools  are  held  in  every  ward  of 
the  city,  and  probably  in  every  considerable  village, 
in  buildings  provided  for  evening  religious  meet- 


Il6  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT, 

ings  under  the  direction  of  the  local  bishops,  but  a 
tuition  fee  is  exacted  for  all  who  attend,  and  the 
poor  are  practically  shut  out.  The  anti-polygamists 
should  agitate  at  once  and  earnestly  to  reform  this 
evil, — it  is  a  strong  point  against  the  dominant 
party,  and  a  weak  point  in  the  welfare  of  the  Terri 
tory.  It  is  a  good  and  encouraging  sign  to  learn 
from  intelligent  sources  that,  as  the  young  girls, 
daughters  of  Mormons,  grow  up  to  womanhood, 
they  are  indisposed  to  polygamy,  and  seek  husbands 
among  the  "  Gentiles  "  rather  than  among  their  own 
faith* 

The  soldiers  at  Camp  Douglas,  near  this  city,  are 
illustrating  one  of  the  ways  in  which  polygamy  will 
fade  away  before  the  popular  principle.  Two  com 
panies,  who  went  home  to  California  last  fall,  took 
about  twenty-five  wives  with  them,  recruited  from 
the  Mormon  flocks.  There  are  now  some  fifty  or 
more  women  in  the  camp,  who  have  fled  thither 
from  town  for  protection,  or  been  seduced  away 
from  unhappy  homes  and  fractional  husbands ;  and 
all  or  nearly  all  find  new  husbands  among  the  sol 
diers.  Only  to-day  a  man  with  three  daughters, 
living  in  the  city,  applied  to  Colonel  George  for 
leave  to  move  up  to  the  camp  for  a  residence,  in 
order,  as  he  said,  to  save  his  children  from  polyg 
amy,  into  which  the  bishops  and  elders  of  the 
church  were  urging  them.  The  camp  authorities 
tell  many  like  stories ;  also  of  sadder  applications, 
if  possible,  for  relief  from  actual  poverty  and  from 
persecution  in  town.  The  Mormons  have  no  poor- 
house,  and  say  they  have  no  poor,  uermitting  none 


SERVICES   AT   THE   TABERNACLE.  1 1/ 

by  relieving  all  through  work  or  gifts.  But  the  last 
winter  was  so  long  and  so  severe,  with  wood  at 
thirty  and  forty  dollars  a  cord,  that  there  was  much 
real  suffering,  and  the  soldiers  yielded  to  extensive 
demands  upon  their  charity,  that  ttys  church  author 
ities  had  neglected  to  fulfill,  or  absolutely  denied. 

Your  readers  are  aware,  I  suppose,  that  a  large 
proportion,  perhaps  the  majority,  of  the  people  ofj 
Utah  are  foreigners, — recruits  by  missionaries  sent 
out  over  the  whole  world.  The  larger  proportion 
are  English,  from  the  factory  towns  of  Great  Brit 
ain.  But  Germans,  Swedes,  Finns,  Scotch,  Ice 
landers,  and  even  East  Indians,  are  here.  Mr. 
Young  boasts  that  fifty  different  nationalities  are 
represented  among  his  people.  The  bulk  of  them 
all  are  of  the  peasantry,  the  lower  classes  of  work 
ing  people  at  home ;  and  so  the  congregations  of 
the  Mormons  do  not  exhibit  the  marks  of  high 
acuteness  and  intelligence.  The  audiences  at  the 
Tabernacle  to-day  and  last  Sunday,  and  at  the  the 
ater  last  night,  were  what  would  be  called  common- 
looking  people.  The  handsome  girls  were  few ;  the 
fine-looking  women  even  fewer ;  intelligent,  strong- 
headed  men  were  more  numerous ;  but  the  great 
mass,  both  in  size,  looks  and  dress,  was  below  the 
poorest,  hardest-working  and  most  ignorant  classes 
of  our  eastern  large  towns. 

The  gatherings  and  the  services,  both  in  speak 
ing  and  singing,  reminded  me  of  the  Methodist 
camp-meetings  of  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago.  The 
singing,  as  on  the  latter  occasions,  was  the  best 
part  of  the  exercises,  simple,  sweet,  and  fervent. 


Il8  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

"  Daughters  of  Zion,"  as  sung  by  the  large  choir 
last  Sunday,  was  prayer,  sermon,  song  and  all. 
The  preaching  last  Sabbath  was  by  Mr.  Samuel  W. 
Richards,  who  was  of  Massachusetts  origin,  but  a 
Mormon  leader*  and  missionary  for  many  years. 
Beyond  setting  forth  the  superiority  of  the  Mor 
mon  church  system,  through  its  presidents,  coun 
cils,  bishops,  elders  and  seventies,  for  the  work 
made  incumbent  upon  Christians,  and  claiming 
that  its  preachers  were  inspired  like  those  of  old, 
his  discourse  was  a  rambling,  unimpressive  exhorta 
tion,  such  as  you  may  hear  from  a  tonguey  deacon 
in  any  country  Baptist  or  Methodist  meeting-house. 
The  Bible,  both  old  and  new  testament,  is  used 
with  the  same  authority  as  by  all  Protestants ;  the 
Mormon  scriptures  are  simply  new  and  added 
books,  confirming  and  supplementing  the  teach 
ings  of  the  original  Scriptures.  The  rite  of  the 
sacrament  is  administered  every  Sunday,  water 
being  used  instead  of  wine,  and  the  distribution 
proceeding  among  the  whole  congregation,  men, 
women  and  children,  and  numbering  from  three  to 
five  thousand,  while  the  singing  and  the  preaching 
are  in  progress.  The  prayers  are  few  and  simple, 
undistinguishable,  except  in  these  characteristics, 
from  those  heard  in  all  Protestant  churches,  and  the 
congregation  all  join  in  the  Amen. 

Brigham  Young's  preaching  to-day  was  a  very 
unsatisfactory,  disappointing  performance.  There 
was  every  incentive  to  him  to  do  his  best ;  he  had 
an  immense  audience  spread  out  under  the  "bow 
ery"  to. the  number  of  five  or  six  thousand;  before 


BRIGHAM   YOUNGS    PREACHING.  IIQ 

him  was  Mr.  Colfax,  who  had  asked  him  to  preach 
upon  the  distinctive  Mormon  doctrines ;  around 
him  were  all  his  elders  and  bishops,  in  unusual 
numbers ;  and  he  was  fresh  from  the  exciting  dis 
cussion  of  yesterday  on  the  subject  of  polygamy. 
But  his  address  lacked  logic,  lacked  effect,  lacked 
wholly  magnetism  or  impressiveness.  It  was  a  curi 
ous  medley  of  scriptural  exposition  and  exhortation, 
bold  and  bare  statement,  coarse  denunciation  and 
vulgar  allusion,  cheap  rant  and  poor  cant.  So  far  as 
his  statement  of  Mormon  belief  went,  it  amounted 
to  this:  that  God  was  a  human,  material  person, 
with  like  flesh  and  blood  and  passions  to  ourselves, 
only  perfect  in  all  things ;  that  he  begot  his  son 
Jesus  in  the  same  way  that  children  are  begotten 
now;  that  Jesus  and  the  father  looked  alike  and 
were  alike,  distinguishable  only  by  the  former  being 
older ;  that  our  resurrection  would  be  material,  and 
we  should  live  in  heaven  with  the  same  bodies  and 
the  same  passions  as  on  earth ;  that  Mormonism 
was  the  most  perfect  and  true  religion ;  that  those 
Christians  who  were  not  Mormons  would  not  nec 
essarily  go  to  hell  and' be  burned  by  living  fire  and 
tortured  by  ugly  devils,  but  that  they  would  not 
occupy  so  high  places  in  heaven  as  the  Latter  Day 
Saints;  that  polygamy  was  the  habit  of  all  the 
children  of  God  in  the  earlier  ages,  and  was  first 
abolished  by  the  Goths  and  Vandals  who  conquered 
and  constructed  Rome;  that  Martin  Luther  ap 
proved  of  it  in  a  single  case  at  least ;  that  a  clergy 
man  of  the  church  of  England  once  married  a  man 
to  a  second  wife  while  his  first  wife  was  living ;  and 


I2O  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

that  in  England  now,  if  a  man  wanted  to  change 
his  wife,  he  had  only  to  offer  her  at  auction  and 
knock  her  off  for  a  pot  of  beer  or  a  shilling,  and 
marry  another.  (This  last  statement  called  out  a 
voice  of  dissent  from  an  English  working-face  in 
the  audience.)  A  good  deal  of  boasting  of  the 
success  of  the  Mormons,  their  temperance,  frugal 
ity  and  honesty,  and  a,  sharp  denunciation  of  the 
"few  stinking  lawyers  who  lived  down  in  whiskey 
street,  and  for  five  dollars  would  attempt  to  make  a 
lie  into  a  truth,"  were  the  only  other  noticeable  fea 
tures  of  this  discourse  of  the  president  of  the 
church  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints.  It  was  a  very 
material  interpretation  of  the  statements  and  truths 
of  scripture,  very  illogically  and  roughly  rendered ; 
and  calculated  only  to  influence  a  cheap  and  vulgar 
audience.  Brigham  Young  may  be  a  shrewd  busi 
ness  man,  an  able  organizer  of  labor,  a  bold,  brave 
person  in  dealing  with  the  practicalities  of  life, — he 
must,  indeed,  be  all  of  these,  for  we  see  the  eviden 
ces  all  around  this  city  and  country ;  but  he  is  in 
no  sense  an  impressive  or  effective  preacher,  judged 
by  any  standards  that  I  have  been  accustomed  to. 

His  audience,  swollen  one  or  two  thousand  more, 
could  not  have  helped  drawing  a  sharp  contrast, — 
dull  in  comprehension  and  fanatically, devoted  to 
him  as  most  of  them  probably  are, — between  his 
speech  and  his  style,  and  those  of  Mr.  Colfax,  who, 
at  a  later  hour  this  evening,  delivered  in  the  same 
place,  by  invitation  of  the  church  and  city  authori 
ties,  his  Chicago  Eulogy  on  the  Life  and  Principles 
of  President  Lincoln.  He  spoke  it  without  notes, 


ELECTIONS    IN    UTAH.  121 

and  with  much  freedom  and  fervor  to  an  audience 
unused  to  so  effective  and  eloquent  a  style,  and 
more  unused,  we  fear,  to  such  sentiments ;  and  he 
received  rapt  attention  and  apparently  delighted 
approval  throughout  the  whole.  Mr.  Colfax's  other 
and  informal  speeches  here,  and  his  whole  inter 
course  with  the  authorities  and  people  of  all  parties, 
considerate  always,  but  frank  and  ever  consistent 
with  his  principles,  had  won  him  the  respect  of  all 
and  the  affection  of  many ;  but  the  pronouncing  of 
this  eulogy  has  increased  the  feeling  in  his  favor  to 
a  high  enthusiasm. 

The  election  for  territorial  delegate  to  Congress 
from  Utah  occurs  in  August.  Judge  Kinney,  who 
was  sent  here  as  judge  by  President  Buchanan,  and 
becoming  agreeable  to  the  Mormon  leaders,  was 
sent  to  Congress  by  them  when  superseded  in  his 
judgeship  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  has  recently  come  back 
from  Washington,  and  seeks  re-election.  But  it  is 
doubtful  if  Mr.  Young  decides  to  have  him  go  again. 
He  has  indicated  a  purpose  of  returning  Captain 
Hooper,  an  old  and  prosperous  merchant  here,  who 
served  the  term  before  Judge  Kinney,  and  who  has 
lately  sold  out  his  business  here,  in  order  to  go  on  a 
mission  for  the  church  to  England.*  He  was  popu 
lar  and  useful  in  Congress  before,  is  an  intelligent, 
able  man,  and  though  a  Mormon,  of  many  years' 
standing,  has  the  principle  and  good  sense  to  be 
content  with  one  most  excellent  wife.  These  and 
other  selections  for  office  are  of  course  nominally 
made  by  the  people  voting  as  in  other  States  and 

*  Mr.  Hooper  has  since  been  choseii  to  Congress. 
6 


122  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

Territories  ;  but  the  real  choice  is  made  beforehand 
by  the  church  authorities,  and  the  vote  is  usually 
quite  small.  Only  one  case  is  known  of  the  bish 
op's  ticket  ever  having  been  defeated.  This  was 
at  a  small  country  village  in  the  choice  for  mayor ; 
but  the  fact  was  not  suffered  to  go  abroad, — it  was 
too  dangerous  an  example. 

But  adieu  to  Salt  Lake  and  many-wive-and-much- 
children-dom ;  to  its  strawberries  and  roses ;  its 
rare  hospitality ;  its  white  crowned  peaks,  its  wide 
spread  valley,  its  river  of  scriptural  name,  its  lake 
of  briniest  taste.  I  have  met  much  to  admire, 
many  to  respect,  worshiped  deep  before  its  Na 
ture, — found  only  one  thing  to  condemn.  I  shall 
want  to  come  again  when  the  railroad  can  bring 
me,  and  that  blot  is  gone. 


LETTER  *XIII. 


SOCIAL    LIFE    AMONG    THE    MORMONS. 


AUSTIN,  Nevada,  June  22. 

I  GO  back  to  the  Mormons,  to  add  some  facts  and 
gossip,  because  their  civilization  is  so  remarkable, 
and  because  they  and  their  institutions  are  about 
to  come  into  new  and  final  conflict  with  the  people 
and  the  government  of  the  country.  Polygamy  in 
troduces  many  curious  cross-relationships,  and  in 
tertwines  the  branches  of  the  genealogical  tree  in 
a  manner  greatly  to  puzzle  a  mathematician,  as  well 
as  to  disgust  the  decent-minded.  The  marrying  of 
two  or  more  sisters  is  very  common ;  one  young 
Mormon  merchant  in  Salt  Lake  City  has  three 
sisters  for  his  three  wives.  There  are  several  cases 
of  men  marrying  both  mother  (widow)  and  her 
daughter  or  daughters  ;«  taking  the  "old  woman" 
for  the  sake  of  getting  the  young  ones ;  but  having 
children  by  all.  Please  to  cipher  out  for  yourselves 
how  this  mixes  things.  More  disgusting  associa 
tions  are  known, — even  to  the  marrying  of  a  half- 
sister  by  one  Mormon.  Consider,  too,  how  these 
children  of  one  father  and  many  mothers, — the  latter 
often  blood  relations, — are  likely  to  become  crossed 


124  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

again  in  new  marriages,  in  the  second  or  third,  if 
not  the  first,  generations,  under  the  operation  of  this 
polygamous  practice ;  and  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  a 
few  generations  of  such  social  practices  will  breed 
a  physical,  moral  and  mental  debasement  of  the 
people  most  frightful  to  contemplate.  Already,  in 
deed,  are  such  indications  apparent,  foreshadowing 
the  sure  and  terrible  realization. 

Brigham  Young's  wives  are  numberless ;  at  least 
no  one  seems  to  know  how  many  he  has ;  and  he 
has  himself  confessed  to  forgetfulness  in  the  mat 
ter.  The  probability  is  he  has  from  sixteen  to 
twenty  genuine  or  complete  wives,  and  about  as 
many  more  women  "sealed"  to  him  for  heavenly 
association  and  glory.  The  latter  are  mostly  pious 
old  ladies,  eager  for  high  seats  in  the  Mormon 
heaven,  and  knowing  no  surer  way  to  get  there 
than  to  be  joined  on  to  Brigham's  angelic  proces 
sion.  Some  of  these  sealed  wives  of  his  are  the 
earthly  wives  of  other  men;  but,. lacking  faith  in 
their  husbands'  heavenly  glory,  seek  to  make  a  sure 
thing  of  it  for  the  future  by  the  grace  of  gracious 
Brigham.  Down  East,  you  know,  many  a  husband 
calculates  on  stealing  into  heaven  under  the  pious 
petticoats  of  his  better  wi js ;  here  the  thing  is  re 
versed,  and  women  go  to  heaven  because  their  hus 
bands  take  them  along.  The  Mormon  religion  is 
an  excellent  institution  for  maintaining  masculine 
authority  in  the  family ;  and  the  greatness  of  a  true 
Mormon  is  measured,  indeed,  by  the  number  of 
wives  he  can  keep  in  sweet  and  loving  and  espe 
cially  obedient  subjugation.  Such  a  man  can  have 


"A  GOOD  THING''  FOR  A  POOR  MAN.        125 

as  many  wives  as  he  wants.  But  President  Young 
objects  to  multiplying  wives  for  men  who  have 
not  this  rare  domestic  gift.  So  there  is  no  chance 
for  you  and  I,  my  dear  Jones,  becoming  successful 
Mormons! 

In  many  cases,  the  Mormon  wives  not  only  sup 
port  themselves  and  their  children,  but  help  support 
their  husbands.  Thus  a  clerk  or  other  man,  with 
similar  limited  income,  who  has  yielded  to  the  fasci 
nations  and  desires  of  three  or  four  women,  and 
married  them  all,  makes  his  home  with  number  one, 
perhaps,  and  the  rest  live  apart,  each  by  herself,  tak 
ing  in  sewing  or  washing,  or  engaging  in  other  em 
ployment,  to  keep  up  her  establishment  and  be  no 
charge  to  her  husband.  He  comes  around,  once 
in  a  while,  to  make  her  a  visit,  and  then  she  sets 
out  an  extra  table  and  spends  ail  her  accumulated 
earnings  to  make  him  as  comfortable  and  herself 
as  charming  as  possible,  so  that  her  fraction  of  the 
dear  sainted  man  may  be  multiplied  as  much  as 
possible.  Thus  the  fellow,  if  he  is  lazy  and  has 
turned  his  piety  to  the  good  account  of  getting 
smart  wives,  may  really  board  around  continually, 
and  live  in  clover,  at  no  personal  expense  but  his 
own  clothing.  Is  not  this  a  divine  institution,  in 
deed! 

When  President  Young  goes  on  a  journey  through 
the  Territory,  on  private  or  public  business,  he  takes 
a  considerable  retinue  with  him,  and  always  a  wife 
and  a  barber.  The  former  is  more  his  servant  than 
his  companion  in  such  cases,  however.  His  house 
hold  is  said  to  be  admirably  managed.  A  son-in- 


126  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

law  acts  as  commissary ;  the  wives  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  table  or  its  supply ;  and  whenever  they 
want  new  clothes  or  pocket  money,  they  mu-st  go 
to  this  chief  of  staff  or  head  of  the  family  bureau. 
Considering  his  opportunities,  the  head  of  the 
Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints  has  made  a  rather 
sorry  selection  of  women  on  the  score  of  beauty. 
The  oldest  or  first  is  a  matronly-looking  old  lady, 
serene  and  sober;  the  youngest  and  present  pet, 
who  was  obtained,  they  say,  after  much  seeking,  is 
comely  but  common-looking,  despite  the  extra  mil 
linery  in  which  she  alone  of  the  entire  family  in 
dulges.  The  second  president  and  favorite  prophet 
of  the  church,  Heber  Kimball,  who  in  church  and 
theater  keeps  the  cold  from  his  bare  head  and  the" 
divine  afflatus  in  by  throwing  a  red  bandanna  hand 
kerchief  over  it,  is  even  less  fortunate  in  the  beauty 
of  his  wives ;  it  is  rather  an  imposition  upon  the 
word  beauty,  indeed,  to  suggest  it  in  their  presence. 
Handsome  women  and  girls,  in  fact,  are-  scarce 
among  the  Mormons  of  Salt  Lake, — the  fewer 
"  Gentiles  "  can  show  many  more  of  them.  Why  is 
this  ?  Is  beauty  more  esthetic  and  as'cetic  ?  Or, 
good-looking  women  being  supposed  to  have  more 
chances  for  matrimony  than  their  plainer  sisters, 
do  they  all  insist  upon  having  the  whole  of  one 
man,  and  leave  the  Mormon  husbands  to  those 
whose  choice  is  like  Hobson's  ?  The  only  polyga- 
mist,  into  whose  family  circle  we  were  freely  admit 
ted,  had,  however,  found  two  very  pretty  women  to 
divide  him  between  them ;  and  I  must  confess  they 
appeared  to  take  their  share  of  him  quite  resignedly, 


BRIGHAM'S  CHILDREN.  127 

if  not  amicably.  They  were  English,  and  of  nearly 
equal  years ;  appeared  together  in  the  parlor  and  in 
public  with  their  husband,  and  dressed  alike ;  but 
they  had  the  same  quiet,  subdued,  half-sad  air  that 
characterized  all  the  Mormon  women,  young  and 
old,  that  I  saw  in  public  or  private.  There  is  cer 
tainly  none  of  that  "loudness"  about  the  Mormon 
ladies,  that  an  eastern  man  cannot  help  observing 
in  the  manners  of  our  western  women  generally. 
And  I  hardly  think  the  difference  is  to  be  attribu 
ted  to  the  superior  refinement  and  culture  of  the 
sisters  of  the  Salt  Lake  Basin ;  it  rather  and  really 
is  the  sign  and  mark  of  their  servitude,  their  de 
basement. 

Brigham  Young's  younger  children,  as  seen  in  his 
school,  to  which  we  were  admitted,  look  sprightly 
and  bright  and  handsome ;  and  some  of  his  grown 
up  daughters  are  comely  and  clever;  but  his  older 
sons  give  no  marked  sign  of  their  father's  smart 
ness.  The  oldest,  Brigham  Jr.,  is  mainly  distin 
guished  for  his  size  and  strength, — he  weighs  two  to 
three  hundred  pounds,  and  is  muscular  in  propor 
tion.  He  has  now  taken  one  of  his  wives  and  gone 
to  England  with  her,  on  business  for  the  church. 
'The  next  son,  John,  is  a  poor,  puny  looking  fellow, 
with  several  wives  and  an  inordinate  love  for  whis 
key.  Brigham's  dynasty  will  die  with  himself. 

There  is  no  more  love  lost  between  the  soldiers 
and  the  Mormons  than  between  the  soldiers  and 
the  Indians.  The  "boys  in  blue"  regard  both  as 
their  natural  enemies,  and  the  enemies  of  order  and 
the  government ;  and  the  feeling  is  cordially  recip- 


128  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

located.  General  Conner,  the  commander  of  the 
military  force  in  Utah,  has  never  even  seen  Brigham 
Young ;  and  the  latter,  it  is  quite  certain,  has  no 
desire  ever  to  see  him.  There  is  a  provost  guard 
of  soldiers  in  Salt  Lake  City,  but  the  rent  of  the 
building  which  it  occupies  is  about  expiring,  and, 
according  to  a  Mormon  way  of  getting  rid  of  an 
uncomfortable  presence,  none  other  is  now  to  be 
had  in  its  place.  Every  building  singularly  hap 
pens  to  be  occupied  or  engaged  just  now;  and  the 
Mormons  have  evidently  hoped  to  thus  drive  all 
these  standing  menaces,  and  seducers  of  their  wo 
men,  as  they  add  the  soldiers  all  are,  out  of  town 
and  into  the  camp,  two  miles  distant.  But  when 
Mr.  Colfax  suggested  to  two  or  three  of  the  elders 
that  such  a  result  could  only  be  interpreted  at 
Washington  as  a  compact  and  contrivance  to  em 
barrass  the  soldiers  and  defy  the  government,  they 
seemed  to  be  incited  to  a  new  and  original  line  of 
thought ;  and  the  probability  is  that  the  provost 
guard  will  be  able  to  find  some  unoccupied  build 
ing,  that  had  not  been  before  thought  of. 

One  of  the  characters  of  Mormondom  is  Porter 
Rockwell,  the  accredited  leader  of  the  Danites  or 
"Avenging  Angels  "  of  the  church.  We  were  pre 
sented  to  him,'  and  were  invited  to  eat  strawberries 
and  cream  at  his  "  ranch,"  but  our  engagements  did 
not  permit  our  accepting  and  partaking.  Though 
given  to  heavy  whiskey  drinking  of  late  years,  he 
is  as  mild  a  mannered  man  as  ever  scuttled  ship  or 
murdered  crews  ;  and  I  really  do  not  think  that  any 
anxiety  for  our  lives  entered  into  our  declination  of 


PORTER   ROCKWELL,  "THE    AVENGER."         I2Q 

his  hospitality,  inexplicable  as  it  may  seem  that 
for  any  less  reason  we  should  have  omitted  any 
opportunity  at  strawberries.  (There  is  a  difference 
of  opinion,  even  among  the  "Gentiles,"  as  to  his 
real  share  in  the  mysterious  and  terrible  takings- 
off  of  parties  in  bad  odor  with  the  saints  of  the 
church;  though  unlettered,  he  is  strong-minded 
and  strong-hearted,  and,  unless  under  the  influence 
of  a  shocking  fanaticism,  I  can  hardly  believe,  from 
his  appearance  and  manners,  he  could  be  guilty  of 
such  crimes  as  are  laid  at  his  door  by  the  more  im-\ 
placable  and  suspicious  of  the  "Gentile"  residents.  1 
I  should  not  be  willing,  however,  to  see  Mr.  Fitz- 
hugh  Ludlow  fall  in  his  way  again ;  there  might  not 
be  murder,  but  the  author  of  the  largely  imagina 
tive  articles  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  on  this  west 
ern  journey  would  certainly  feel  the  sharp  ven 
geance  of  the  injured  and  irate  "Avenger."  Mr. 
Ludlow  tells  the  worst  stories  about  Rockwell,  such 
as  that  he  had  committed  about  fifty  murders  for 
the  church  and  as  many  more  on  private  account, 
as  if  accepted,  proved  facts ;  at  the  same  time  that 
he  acknowledges  being  his  guest,  and  availing  him 
self  of  his  courtesies  to  see  the  country.  Porter 
shuts  his  teeth  hard  when  the  subject  is  now  men 
tioned,  and  mutters  that  he  supposes  "it  is  all 
wheat,"  this  being  Utah  idiom  for  all  right.  Which 
means,  of  course,  that  he  don't  suppose  any  such 
thing. 

There  is  little  or  no  immigration  to  the  Mormons 
this  season,  at  least  not  yet.     They  have  been  send 
ing  out  fresh  relays  of  missionaries  and  recruiting 
6*  9 


I3O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

agents  to  England  and  the  Continent  of  Europe, 
and  expect  great  returns  next  year.  On  the  Sand 
wich  Islands  they  seem  to  have  established  a  per 
manent  colony,  also,  to  which  has  just  been  con 
tributed  a  new  company  of  about  fifty,  men,  women 
and  children  from  Utah.  Some  of  the  "Gentiles" 
believe  this  Sandwich  Island  movement  is  towards 
a  new  and  contingent  base ;  and  that  if  hard  pressed 

xKere  by  the  progress  of  civilization  and  the  hand 

of  authority,  the  Mormon  leaders  will  gather  up  all 

their  available  forces  and  wealth,  and  retreat  thither. 

\  Pf:  is  certain  that  they  must  make  a  change  of  base 

^of  one  sort  or  another  before  long,  either  in  the 
matter  of  polygamy,  or  else  in  the  location  of  their 
earthly  tabernacles  and  kingdom.  Even  without 
the  interference  of  government,  they  must  soon 
give  way  here,  in  their  peculiar  sway  and  their  re 
volting  institution,  before  the  progress  of  population 
and  the  diversification  of  civilized  industry  that 
comes  along  with'  it.  Our  bachelor  stage-driver 
out  of  Salt  Lake,  who  said  he  expected  to  have  a 
revelation  soon  to  take  one  of  the  extra  wives  of 
a  Mormon  saint,  is  a  representative  of  the  Coming 
Man.  Let  the  Mormons  look  out  for  him. 


LETTER    XIV. 

THE   RIDE  THROUGH  THE   SAGE   BRUSH  AND  THE 
GREAT    BASIN. 


VIRGINIA,  Nevada,  Jfine  28. 

WE  are  nearly  out  of  the  Sage  Brush !  Nearly 
into  a  "white  country,"  where  the  grass  grows 
green,  and  water  runs,  and  trees  mount  skyward 
and  spread  sweet  shade.  Like  some  of  the  dry, 
barren  plains  that  lead  up  to  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  on  the  east,  the  six  hundred  miles  we  have 
come  over  from  Salt  Lake  to  this  point,  pass  through 
a  region  whose  uses  are  unimaginable,  unless  to 
hold  the  rest  of  the  globe  together,  or  to  teach  pa 
tience  to  travelers,  or  to  keep  close-locked  in  its 
mountain  ranges  those  rich  mineral  treasures  that 
the  world  did  not  need  or  was  not  ready  for  until 
now.  The  Basin  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  that  I 
briefly  described  in  a  late  letter  as  the  ^center  of  the 
Mormon  development,  is  but  the  south-eastern  and 
most  fertile  corner  of  an  immensely  large  intra- 
mountain  basin,  that  has  no  water  outlet  to  the 
ocean,  that  absorbs  all  the  water  developed  within 
its  limits,  and  cries,  oh  how  hungrily  for  more, 
whose  chief  natural  vegetable  product  is  Sage 


132  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

Brush,  and  which  holds  within  its  bounds  the  great, 
if  not  the  sole,  silver  mines  of  the  nation. 

This  Great  Desert  Basin, — but  desert  only  because 
comparatively  waterless, — lies  on  the  very  central 
and  commercial  line  of  the  Republic, — the  line  of 
greatest  population  and  thrift  and  wealth  both  east 
and  west  of  it, — stretches  three  hundred  miles  from 
north  to  south  and  six  hundred  miles  from  east  to 
west,  is  about  equally  divided  between  the  two  states 
of  Utah  and  Nevada,  and  is  walled  in  on  the  one 
side  by  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  on  the  other  by 
the  Sierra  Nevadas.  Not  a  wide,  unbroken  plain, 
however,  is  this  vast  basin  desert  of  the  West. 
Through  it,  north  and  south,  run  subsidiary  ranges 
of  mountains,  averaging  at  least  one  to  every  fifty 
miles,  and  the  intervening  valleys  or  plains  all  dip, 
though  almost  imperceptibly,  to  the  center,  which 
gratefully  suggests  that  they  were  once  not  alto 
gether  so  tearless  as  now.  Mountain  and  plain  are 
alike  above  dew  point ;  rain  is  a  rarity, — near  neigh 
bor  to  absolute  stranger;  and  only  an  occasional 
range  of  the  hills  mounts  so  high  as  to  hold  its 
winter  snows  into  the  summer  suns,  and  yield  the 
summer  streams  that  give,  at  rare  intervals,  sweet 
lines  of  green,  affording  forage  for  cattle  and  re 
freshment  and  rest  for  traveler.  Springs  are  even 
more  infrequent,  but  not  altogether  unknown,  and 
water  may  sometimes,  though  very  hardly,  be  got, 
when  all  else  fails,  by  digging  deep  wells.  Such 
streams  as  rise  from  springs  or  snow-banks  in  the 
mountains,  begin  to  shrink  as  they  reach  the  Plains, 
and  end  in  salt  lakes,  or  sink  quietly  into  the  fam- 


THE    RIVERS    OF    THE    GREAT   BASIN.  133 

* 

ishing  earth.  Humboldt  River,  the  largest  and 
longest  of  the  basin,  runs  west  and  south  from  three 
hundred  to  five  hundred  miles,  and  then  finds  igno 
minious  end  in  a  "sink,"  or,  in  a  very  natural  big  ' 
disgust  at  the  impossibility  of  the  job  it  has  under 
taken,  quietly  "peters  out."  So  of  the  Carson 
River,  which  comes  from  the  Sierra  Nev?.das  on,- 
the  west,  and  finds  its  home  in  a  lagoon  within  j 
sight  of  its  parent  peaks.  Reese  River,  now  so  fa 
mous  as  localizing  the  new  and  extensive  silver 
mining  operations  about  Austin,  is  but  a  sluggish 
brook  that  the  shortest-legged  man  could  step  across 
at  its  widest,  and  yields  itself  up  to  the  hot  sands 
without  greening  but  a  narrow  line  in  the  broad 
plain  in  which  it  runs.  And  yet  it  is  the  largest 
and  almost  only  stream  that  we  met  in  traveling 
westward  from  the  Jordan  which  waters  the  valley 
of  Salt  Lake ;  and  the  two  are  four  hundred  miles 
apart ! 

Through  this  wide  stretch  of  treeless  mountain 
and  plain,  at  its  center, — fifty  to  one  hundred  miles 
below  the  old  and  more  fortunately  watered  emi 
grant  route  along  the  valley  of  the  Humboldt, — on  a 
nearly  straight  line  west,  we  have  made  the  most 
rapid  stage  ride  yet  achieved  on  the  great  overland 
line,  and  the  equal  perhaps  of  any  ever  made  of 
like  distance  on  the  Continent.  Mr.  Holladay's 
ownership  ceases  at  Salt  Lake ;  from  there  hither, 
the  stages  are  run  by  the  Overland  Mail  Company,  ' 
whose  stockholders  are  New  Yorkers,  and  mainly 
the  same  as  those  of  the  great  express  company  of 
Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  which  monopolizes  the  express 


134  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

business  in  all  these  western  States  and  Territories, 
having  its  offices  in  every  town  and  village,  and  ex 
tending  its  routes  as  fast  and  as  far  as  the  most 
enterprising  prospectors  successfully  push  their 
hunt  for  the  precious  metals.  At  Salt  Lake  City, 
therefore,  we  parted  with  our  protector  and  com 
panion,  thus  far,  Mr.  Otis, — with  many  a  rare  mem 
ory  of  his  good  fellowship, — and  found  new  friends 
and  careful  protection  on  our  farther  journey  in 
the  officers  and  drivers  of  the  Overland  Company. 
Their  part  of  the  line  has  been  happily  exempt,  for 
now  two  years,  from  the  inroads  of  the  Indians; 
it  is  all  nearer  to  good  markets  than  most  of  Mr. 
Holladay's ;  and  so  we  naturally  found  it  in  better 
condition,  and  able  to  run  more  promptly  and  regu 
larly.  Ambitious  to  see  how  fast  they  could  .send 
Mr.  Colfax  and  his  friends  over  their  route,  they 
took  us  up  at  Salt  Lake  on  Monday  morning  week, 
and  set  us  down  at  Austin,  four  hundred  miles  dis 
tant,  in  fifty  hours,  or  two-thirds  the  time  usually 
taken.  Awaiting  our  examination  of  the  mining 
region  about  Austin,  we  were  again  put  over  the 
road  on  the  double  quick,  and  landed  in  Virginia, 
two  hundred  miles  farther  off,  in  twenty-two  hours 
more,  or  fourteen  less  than  the  schedule  time ;  and 
so  came  into  this  town  at  six  o'clock  Sunday  morn 
ing,  while  all  the  elements  of  a  magnificent  popular 
reception,  that  had  been  arranged  for  the  night  be 
fore,  were  fast  asleep  in  bed,  and  totally  undreaming 
of  the  march  that  we  were  stealing  -upon  them. 
Here,  we  are  near  the  foot  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas, 
on  the  borders  of  California,  and  will  be  transferred, 


A    FAST    STAGE    RIDE.  135 

for  our  farther  progress,  to  still  another  line  of 
coaches. 

But  our  fast  ride  by  the  Overland  Mail  stages 
from  Salt  Lake  will  always  be  a  chief  feature  in  the 
history  and  memory  of  our  grand  journey  across 
the  Continent.  The  stations  of  the  company  are 
ten  to  fifteen  miles  apart;  at  every  station  fresh 
horses,  ready  harnessed,  took  the  places  of  the  old, 
with  a  delay  of  from  two  to  four  minutes  only; 
every  fifty  miles  a  new  driver  took  his  place  on  the 
box ;  wherever  meals  were  to  be  eaten,  they  were 
ready  to  serve  on  arrival ;  and  so,  with  horses  ever 
fresh  and  fat,  and  gamey, — horses  that  would  shine 
in  Central  Park  and  Fifth  Avenue  equipages, — with 
drivers,  gentlemanly,  intelligent  and  better  dressed 
than  their  passengers,  and  a  division  superintend 
ent,  who  had  planned  the  ride  and  came  along  to 
see  it  executed,  for  each  two  hundred  miles, — we 
were  whirled  over  the  rough  mountains  and  through 
the  dry  and  dusty  plains  of  this  uninhabited  and 
uninhabitable  region,  rarely  passing  a  house  except 
the  stage  stations,  never  seeing  wild  bird  or  beast, 
for  there  were  none  to  see,  as  rapidly  and  as  regu 
larly  as  we  could  have  been  over  macadamized 
roads  amid  a  complete  civilization.  The  speed 
rarely  fell  below  eight  miles  an  hour,  and  often  ran 
up  to  twelve.  But  so  wisely  was  all  arranged,  and 
so  well  executed,  that  not  an  animal  suffered ;  to 
horses  and  men  the  ride  seemed  to  be  the  work  of 
every  day,  as  indeed  it  wa^  in  everything  but  our 
higher  rate  of  speed. 

But  the  passengers  are  content  that  it  should  be 


136  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

a  single  experience  for  them  ;  they  are  glad  to  have 
had  it,  but  will  spare  their  friends  a  repetition, — at 
present.  The  alkali  dust,  dry  with  a  season's  sun, 
fine  with  the  grinding  of  a  season's  stages  and 
freight  trains,  was  thick  and  constant  and  pene 
trating  beyond  experience  and  comparison.  It  filled 
the  air, — it  was  the  air ;  it  covered  our  bodies, — it 
penetrated  them  ;  it  soared  to  Almighty  attributes, 
and  became  omnipresent,  and  finding  its  way  into 
bags  and  trunks,  begrimed  all  our  clean  clothes  and 
reduced  everything  and  everybody  to  a  common 
plane  of  dirt,  with  a  soda,  soapy  flavor  to  all. 

This  alkali  element  in  the  soil  of  all  this  region, 
as  of  much  of  the  country  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  I  have  heard  no  explanation  of. 
In  some  spots  it  prevails  to  such  a  degree  as  to  clean 
the  ground  of  all,  even  the  most  barren  vegetation ; 
and  wide,  smooth,  bare  alkali  plains  stretch  out  be 
fore  the  eye  sometimes  for  miles,  and  white  in  the 
distance  like  a  snow-bank.  In  some  places  so  strong 
is  it  that  the  earth  when  wet  rises  like  bread  under 
yeast.  It  taints  the  water  everywhere,  and  some 
times  so  strongly  that  bread  mixed  with  it  needs  no 
other  "rising."  Yet  I  find  no  evidence  of  any  gen 
eral  unhealthy  effect  from  its  presence ;  animals  eat 
the  grass  and  drink  the  water  flavored  with  it ;  and 
though  the  dust  chokes  all  pores  and  makes  the 
nose  and  lips  sore,  the  inconvenience  and  annoy 
ance  seem  to  be  but  temporary  from  even  large 
doses  of  it.  .  . 

Then  the  jolts  of  the  rocks  and  the  "chuck  holes" 
of  the  road,  to  which  the  drivers  in  their  rapid  prog- 


MR.  GREELEY  AND  HANK  MONK,  THE  DRIVER.  137 

ress  could  give  no  heed,  kept  us  in  a  somewhat  per 
petual  and  not  altogether  graceful  motion.  There 
was  certainly  small  sleep  to  be  enjoyed  during  this 
memorable  ride  of  three  days  and  nights ;  and 
though  we  made  the  best  of  it  with  joke  and  felici 
tation  at  each  other's  discomfort,  there  was  none 
not  glad  when  it  was  over.  The  drivers  all  had  the 
same  consolation  to  administer  to  us  for  the  rough 
riding,  and  that  was  the  story,  memorable  all  along 
this  route,  of  Mr.  Greeley's  experience  upon  it  some 
six  years  ago.  He  had  met  rather  a  dull  driver,  was 
behind  time,  and  became  impatient,  as  he  had  a  lec 
ture  engagement  just  over  the  mountains  in  Cali 
fornia.  So  when  he  struck  the  mountain  road,  and 
a  noted  driver  then  and  still, — for  stage  driving  is  a 
trade  that  men  follow  through  their  lives, — by  name 
Hank  Monk,  Mr.  Greeley  suggested  that  he  would 
like  <to  get  over  the  road  a  trifle  faster.  "  Yes,"  said 
Hank,  as  he  gathered  up  the  reins  of  six  half-wild 
mustangs,  then  in  common  use  on  the  road, — "keep 
your  seat  Mr.  Greeley,  and  I  will  get  you  through 
in  time."  Crack  went  his  whip;  the  mustangs 
dashed  into  a  fearful  pace,  up  hill  and  down,  along 
precipices  frightful  to  look  at,  over  rocks  that  kept 
the  noted  passenger  passing  frantically  between 
seat  and  ceiling  of  the  coach; — the  philosopher 
soon  was  getting  more  than  he  bargained  for ;  and 
at  the  first  soft  place  on  the  road,  he  mildly  sug 
gested  to  the  driver  that  a  half  an  hour  more  or  less 
would  not  make  much  difference.  But  Monk  was 
in  for  his  drive  and  his  joke,  and  replied  again,  with 
a  twinkle  in  his  left  eye,  after  a  fresh  cut  at  his  mus- 


138  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

tangs,  "Just  keep  your  seat,  Mr.  Greeley,  and  you 
shall  be  through  in  time.'*  Mr.  Greeley  kept  his 
seat  so  well  as  he  could,  got  through  on  time,  and 
better,  unharmed,  though  greatly  to  his  surprise,  in 
view  of  the  dangers  and  roughness  of  the  drive, 
and  rewarded  the  driver,  who  had  served  him  the 
rough  joke,  with  a  new  suit  of  clothes.  The  story 
is  now  classic  with  all  the  drivers  and  all  travelers 
on  the  road ;  and  Monk  wears  a  watch  with  his  re 
ply  to  Mr.  Greeley  engraved  on  the  case, — the  pres 
ent  of^ome  other  passengers,  whom  he  had  driven 
both  rapidly  and  safely  over  his  perilous  route. 
The  road  is  better  now ;  and  the  horses  tamer ;  but 
the  driving  is  hardly  less  fearful. 

It  is  an  interesting  problem  whether  these  un 
promising  valleys,  gray  and  brown  with  an  unnat 
ural  sunshine,  can  ever  be  subdued  to  the  service 
of  the  population  that  the  mineral  wealth  of  their 
hills  invites  and  will  inevitably  draw  into  them. 
Save  a  sandy  desert  of  sixty  miles  wide,  which 
comes  after  the  fertile  strip  of  eastern  Utah  is 
passed,  there  is  nothing  in  the  soil  itself  that  for 
bids  valuable  uses.  It  is  made  up  of  the  wash  and 
waste  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  wherever  even 
moderately  watered  is  very  productive.  Some  the 
orists  contend  that  with  the  occupation  and  use  of 
the  country,  rains  will  multiply;  and  the  observa 
tions  of  the  Mormons  give  a  faint  encouragement 
to  this  idea.  Another  theory  is,  that  by  plowing 
during  the  later  rains  of  spring,  and  sowing  during 
the  long,  dry  summer  rest,  the  smaller  and  hardy 
grains  will  sprout  with  the  fall  rains,  strengthen  in 


THE    BEAUTY   OF    THE    HILLS.  139 

the  winter,  and  quickly  ripen  in  the  early  spring. 
Such  treatment  involves  a  year's  fallow,  as  the  har 
vest  would  be  too  late  for  another  plowing  the  same 
spring.  This  culture  is  doubtless  practicable,  as  it 
has  been  proven,  in  the  high  sage  brush  plains  in 
California;  but  it  would  seem  as  if  these  alkaline 
valleys  of  the  great  interior  basin  were  too  cold, 
and  go  dry  too  long,  for  like  successful  treatment. 
It  is  worthy  intelligent  and  persistent  experiment, 
however ;  for  I  observe  that  wherever  the  sage  bush 
can  grow,  other  things  can  and  will  with  the  addi 
tion  of  water. 

Do  not  think  such  a  country  is  altogether  with 
out  beauty  or  interest  for  a  traveler.  Mountains  are 
always  beautiful ;  and  here  they  are  ever  in  sight, 
wearing  every  variety  of  shape,  and  even  in  their 
hard  and  bare  surfaces  presenting  many  a  fascina 
tion  of  form, — running  up  into  sharp  peaks  ;  rising 
up  and  rounding  out  into  innumerable  fat  mam- 
millas,  exquisitely  shapen,  and  inviting  possibly  to 
auriferous  feasts  ;  sloping  down  into  faint  foot-hills, 
and  mingling  with  the  plain  to  which  they  are  all 
destined;  and  now  and  then  offering  the  silvery 
streak  of  snow,  that  is  the  sign  of  water  for  man 
and  the  promise  of  grass  for  ox.  Add  to  the  moun 
tains  the  clear,  pure,  rare  atmosphere,  bringing  re 
mote  objects  close,  giving  new  size  and  distinctness 
to  moon  and  stars,  offering  sunsets  and  sunrises  of 
indescribable  richness  and  reach  of  color,  and  ac 
companied  with  cloudless  skies  and  a  south  wind, 
refreshing  at  all  times,  and  cool  and  exhilarating 
ever  in  the  afternoon  and  evening;  and  you  have 


I4O  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

large  compensations  even  for  the  lack  of  vegeta 
tion  and  color  in  the  landscape.  There  is  a  rich 
exhilaration,  especially,  in  the  fresh  evening  air,  dry, 
clear  and  strengthening,  that  no  eastern  mountain 
or  ocean  breeze  can  rival.  In  looking  out  through 
it  at  sunset  on  the  starry  heavens,  and  in  taking  in 
its  subtle  inspiration,  one  almost  forgets  alkali,  and 
for  the  nonce  does  not  remember  flowers  and  grass 
and  trees. 


LETTER    XV. 

THE     SILVER     MINES     OF    NEVADA— AUSTIN    AND 
VIRGINIA    CITY. 


VIRGINIA,  Nevada,  June  27. 

CALIFORNIA,  mature  at  eleven,  plants  a  colony  in 
1859-60,  which  ripens  into  a  new  State  in  1864. 
Nevada  is  the  first  child  of  California.  As  bachelor 
uncles  and  fond  friends  sometimes  think  children 
are  born  in  order  to  wheedle  them  out  of  silver 
cups ;  so  Nevada  sprang  into  being  under  like 
metallic  influence.  And  if  she  promised  to  give, 
rather  than  to  get,  she  fails  yet  to  keep  full  faith ; 
for  though  in  her  six  years  of  life,  she  has  yielded 
sixty  millions  of  material  for  pure  coin  of  the  realm, 
she  has  absorbed  much  more  than  that  amount  of 
California  capital  and  labor.  Coming  west  out*  of 
the  barren  plains  of  the  great  interior  basin, — even 
in  their  midst, — we  strike  the  first  wave  of  Pacific 
coast  life  at  Austin.  Five  hundred  miles  from  San 
Francisco,  two  hundred  miles  from  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vadas,  in  middle  Nevada,  huddled  and  incoherent 
along  the  steep  hill-sides  of  a  close  canyon,  running 
sharply  up  from  the  Reese  River  valley,  lies  the  east 
ernmost  and  freshest  mining  town  of  the  State  and 
the  section. 


142  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

Two  years  old,  Austin  has  already  had  a  popu.a- 
tion  of  six  or  eight  thousand,  cast  one  thousand 
nine  hundred  votes  at  the  presidential  election,  and, 
now,  experiencing  its  first  reaction,  falls  back  to 
four  thousand  inhabitants.  It  bears  family  likeness 
to  Central  City  and  Black  Hawk  in  Colorado; 
houses  are  built  anywhere  and  everywhere,  and 
streets  are  then  made  to  reach  them ;  one  side  of 
a  house  will  be  four  stories  and  the  other  but  two, — 
such  is  the  lay  of  the  land ;  not  a  tree  nor  a  flower, 
nor  a  grass  plot  does  the  whole  town  boast, — not 
one ;  but  it  has  the  best  French  restaurant  I  have 
met  since  New  York,  a  daily  newspaper,  and  the 
boot-blacks  and  barbers  and  baths  are  luxurious 
and  aristocratic  to  the  continental  degree; — while 
one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  feminine  physical 
beauty  and  grace  presides  over  a  lager  beer  saloon ; 
gambling  riots  openly  in  the  large  area  of  every 
drinking  shop, — miners  risking  to  this  chance  at 
night  the  proceeds  of  the  scarcely  less  doubtful 
chance  of  the  day ;  and  weak-minded  and  curious 
strangers  are  tempted  by  such  advertisements  as 
this:— 

Mammoth  Lager  Beer  Saloon,  in  tne  basement,  corner  Main  and 
Virginia  streets,  Austin,  Nevada.  Choice  liquors,  wines,  lager  beer 
and  cigars,  served  by  pretty  girls,  who  understand  their  business 
and  attend  to  it  Votaries  of  Bacchus,  Gambrinus,  Venus  or  Cupid 
can  spend  an  evening  agreeably  at  the  Mammoth  Saloon. 

Both  inquisitive  and  classical,  we  went  in  search 
of  this  bower  of  the  senses ;  and  we  found  a  cellar, 
whitewashed  and  sawdusted ;  two  fiddles  and  a  clar 
ionet  in  one  corner ;  a  bar  of  liquors  glaring  in  an- 


MYTHOLOGY  AND    MINES    AT  AUSTIN.  143 

other;  and  a  fat,  coarse  Jew  girl  proved  the  sole 
embodiment  and  representative  of  all  these  pro 
claimed  gods  and  goddesses.  We  blushingly  apol 
ogized,  and  retired  with  our  faces  to  Mistress  Venus, 
Cupid,  etc.,  as  guests  retire  from  mortal  monarchs, — 
lest  our  pockets  should  be  picked ;  and  we  shall  take 
our  mythology  out  of  the  dictionaries  hereafter. 

All  up  the  Austin  hill-sides,  among  the  houses, 
and  beyond  them,  are  the  big  ant-hills  that  denote 
mines  or  the  hopes  of  such.  Down  in  the  valley 
are  the  mills  for  crushing  and  separating  the  ore. 
Back  and  around  the  corners,  and  over  the  moun 
tains  for  many  miles,  are  similar  though  less  frequent 
signs.  The  main  Austin  belt,  however,  has  been 
successfully  traced  for  but  five  miles,  and  one  in 
width.  The  veins  of  ore  lie  thick  in  the  rotten 
granite  of  the  hills,  like  the  spread  fingers  of  some 
mineral  giant.  They  are  also  comparatively  small, 
sometimes  as  inches,  rarely  widening  to  more  than 
three  or  four  feet.  But  to  compensate  for  this  dis 
advantage,  they  are  exceeding  rich  and  generally 
reliable.  But  then  again,  the  metal  is  so  com 
pounded  with  sulphuretts  of  other  metals,  with  an 
timony  and  arsenic,  that  it  is  hard  to  extract,  and 
requires  a  roasting,  burning,  or  smelting  process, 
like  the  gold  ores  of  Colorado,  in  addition  and  in 
termediate  to  those  of  crushing  and  amalgamating, 
to  successful  operation.  About  fifty  veins  are  now 
being  worked  successfully,  and  as  many  more  have 
been  satisfactorily  prospected,  and  are  being  put  in 
condition  for  operating,  or  are  awaiting  the  coming 
of  capital  and  its  machinery.  Water  flows  into  all 


144  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

the  veins  freely,  and  much  labor  is  required  to  pump 
it  out.  The  first  necessity  of  every  mine,  indeed, 
is  a  steam  engine  and  hoisting  apparatus,  to  draw 
up  water  and  ore  from  the  bottom  of  the  shaft  or 
tunnel.  But  few  of  the  mines  have  mills  connected 
with  them ;  several  of  the  older  and  strong  compa 
nies  only  combine  both  operations,  and  make  the 
two  profits.  The  mills  are  located  with  regard  to 
wood  and  water,  rather  than  to  the  ore,  and  the  lat 
ter  is  carted  sometimes  fqr  miles  to  be  worked. 
Half  a  dozen  mills,  working  some  seventy-five 
stamps  in  all,  are  already  put  up  in  the  Austin  and 
neighboring  canyons ;  but  only  about  fifty  stamps 
are  now  at  work.  The  number  will  speedily  be 
doubled  by  mills  going  up  or  undergoing  repair. 
The  ore  yields  from  one  hundred  to  four  hundred 
dollars  in  silver  and  gold  per  ton ;  but  at  present 
prices,  it  costs  nearly  or  quite  one  hundred  dol 
lars  to  mine  and  work  it,  so  that  which  yields  only 
one  hundred  dollars  cannot  be  profitably  worked. 
Consequently  miners,  who  have  no  mills,  separate 
their  ores,  and  hire  worked  out  only  the  most  valu 
able,  saving  the  rest  up  until  competition  brings 
down  the  price  of  milling,  or  they  erect  mills  of 
their  own.  The  charge  for  working  the  ores  at  the 
mills  is  eighty  dollars  a  ton,  about  half  of  which  is 
profit.  The  same  description*  of  work  can  be  hired 
done  here  at  Virginia  for  thirty  to  forty  dollars  per 
ton.  The  ore  of  one  mine  near  Austin  has  aver 
aged  one  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  a  ton  for  many 
months,  and  yields  a  net  profit  of  at  least  eighty 
dollars  a  ton  to  its  owners.  Another  company, 


CASES    OF    SUCCESSFUL    MINING.  145 

owning  both  mill  and  mines,  finds  its  ores  yielding 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  ton  without  assort 
ing,  and  the  cost  of  getting  out  and  working  is  but 
fifty  dollars ;  so  that,  working  six  tons  a  day,  their 
steady  profits  are  six  hundred  dollars  daily,  on  an 
expenditure,  in  investments,  of  less  than  two  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  employment  of  about 
thirty  men. 

New  York  companies  are  now  coming  in  here 
and  putting  up  fine  new  establishments.  One  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars  will  pay  for  a  fine  large  mill 
with  fifteen  to  twenty  stamps.  Promising,  pros 
pected  mines  can  be  bought  for  from  ten  thousand 
to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  depending  upon 
the  extent  of  their  claims  on  the  surface,  and  the 
notoriety  they  have  attained,  as  well  as  upon  the 
gullibility  of  the  purchasers.  It  is  not  advisable  for 
new  enterprises  to  erect  mills,  first  because  there 
will  probably  soon  be  enough  in  the  region  to 
supply  present  wants  at  a  fair  price,  and  second, 
because  so  soon  as  a  -cheaper  and  more  speedy 
communication  can  be  obtained,  the  ores  will  be 
transferred  to  other  places,  where  Riel  and  water 
are  more  abundant,  for  milling.  Even  now,  with 
freight  ten  to  twelve  cents  a  pound  from  Austin  to 
San  Francisco,  all  the  ore  from  one  mine  in  Austin 
is  sent  to  England  to  be  worked.  It  is  so  valuable 
and  yet  so  refractory  that  it  pays  to  send  it  this  long 
distance  in  order  to  give  it  a  cheap  but  complete 
manipulation. 

New  discoveries  of  valuable  ore  are  constantly 
making  both  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
7  10 


146  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT; 

Austin,  and  far  south  and  north  on  the  same  range 
of  mountains.  In  both  directions  veins  equally 
rich  and  much  larger  have  been  found ;  and  many 
parties  are  busy  prospecting.  Scattered  mills  are 
also  in  operation  in  these  more  remote  localities ; 
and  many  a  mining  village  is  struggling  for  noto 
riety  among  the  Humboldt  mountains  to  the  north 
west.  But  Austin-  is  the  chief  point  of  mining 
population  and  development  in  central  Nevada,  as 
Virginia  is  in  western ;  and  the  two  are  by  far  the 
most  conspicuous  and  representative  points  of  the 
silver  mining  interest  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

But  Virginia  presents  many  contrasts  to  Austin. 
It  is  three  or  four  years  older ;  it  puts  its  gambling 
behind  an  extra  door ;  it  is  beginning  to  recognize 
the  Sabbath,  has  many  churches  open,  and  closes 
part  of  its  stores  on  that  day ;  is  exceedingly  well 
built,  in  large  proportion  with  solid  brick  stores  and 
warehouses ;  and  though  the  fast  and  fascinating 
times  of  1 862-63  are  over,  when  it  held  from  fifteen 
thousand  to  twenty  thousand  people,  and  Broadway 
and  Wall  street  were  not  more  crowded  than  its 
streets,  it  has  a  thrifty  and  enterprising  air,  and  con 
tains  a  population  of  ten  thousand,  besides  the  ad 
joining  town  or  extension  of  Gold  Hill,  which  has 
about  three  thousand  more. 

The  situation  of  Virginia  is  very  picturesque; 
above  the  canyon  or  ravine,  it  is  spread  along  the 
mountain  side,  like  the  roof  of  a  house,  about  half 
way  to  the  top.  Right  above  rises  a  noble  peak, 
fifteen  hundred  feet  higher  than  the  town,  itself 
about  six  thousand  feet  high ;  below  stretches  the 


THE    COMSTOCK    LEDGE    AT    VIRGINIA.  147 

foot-hill,  bisected  by  the  ravine ;  around  on  all  sides, 
sister  hills  rise  in  varying  hights,  rich  in  roundness 
and  other  forms  of  beauty,  but  brown  in  barrenness, 
as  if  shorn  for  prize  fight,  and  fading  out  into  dis 
tant  plain,  with  a  sweet  green  spot  to  mark  the  rare 
presence  of  water  and  verdure. 

Different,  too,  in  its  mines  is  Virginia  from  Aus 
tin.  Instead  of  numerous  little  veins,  the  wealth 
of  Virginia  lies  in  one  grand  ledge  of  ore,  running 
along  the  mountain  side,  just  within  the  upper  line 
of  the  town,  for  three  miles ;  of  width,  from  fifty  to 
one  hundred  feet,  and  of  depth  incalculable.  This 
is  the  famous  Comstock  Ledge  ;  and  no  silver  mines 
worth  working  have  yet  been  found  off  from  it,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Virginia ;  though  thousands 
of  dollars  and  years  of  labor  have  been  spent  in  the 
search.  Nor  has  the  working  of  this  ledge  at  its 
various  points  been  attended  with  uniform  success. 
At  least  as  many  companies  have  failed  upon  it  as 
have  succeeded.  Only  fourteen  out  of  about  thirty 
companies  formed  and  still  at  work  upon  the  Com 
stock  Ledge  have  paid  dividends.  One  company 
has  spent  over  a  million  dollars  in  the  vain  pursuit 
of  "pay  ore  ;"  the  vein  it  has,  the  ore  it  finds,  but 
the  latter  is  not  rich  enough  to  pay  for  milling.  But 
it  still  goes  on,  seduced  by  the  hope  of  finding  the 
valuable  streak  which  its  neighbor  had  yest?rday, 
but  may  have  lost  to-day.  Other  companies  have 
spent  hundreds  of  thousands  for  vain  expectations  ; 
but  still  hold  on,  some  of  them  at  least,  in  the  be 
lief  that  a  lower  point  in  the  lode  will  develop*  sure 
and  recompensing  wealth.  The  success  of  other 


148  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

companies  has  been  more  marked  even  than  these 
failures,  though  they  be  fewer  in  number. 

The  Gould  &  Curry  is  the  largest  and  most  fa 
mous  enterprise  here.  It  has  twelve  hundred  feet 
in  length  on  the  surface  of  the  ledge,  has  dug  down 
six  hundred  to  eight  hundred  feet  in  depth,  and 
back  and  forth  on  its  line  twenty  or  thirty  times ; 
its  whole  excavations  foot  up  five  millions  of  cubic 
feet,  and  afford  some  two  miles  of  underground 
travel,  and  it  has  consumed  more  lumber  to  brace 
up  the  walls  of  its  tunnels  than  the  entire  city  of 
Virginia  above  ground  has  used  for  all  its  build 
ings.  This  company  own  the  largest  and  finest 
mill  probably  in  the  world,  costing  nearly  a  million 
of  dollars,  and  running  eighty  stamps.  This  mam 
moth  enterprise  has  only  drawn  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  dollars  from  its  stockholders,  ancf 
has  paid  them  back  four  millions  in  dividends. 
Altogether,  it  has  produced  twelve  millions  of  bul 
lion,  and  but  for  extravagance  in  management  and 
the  necessity  for  many  a  blind  and  expensive  ex 
periment,  its  profit  share  of  this  sum  would  have 
been  at  least  fifty,  instead  of  thirty-three,  per  cent. 
In  one  year  the  yield  of  this  mine  was  four  and  a 
half  millions,  and  its  profits  one  million ,  but  with 
a  railroad  to  San  Francisco,  the  latter  would  have 
been  Swollen  to  three  millions! 

This  immense  development  was  secured  under 
the  energetic  superintendence  of  Mr.  Charles  L. 
Strong,  a  native  of  Easthampton  in  Hampshire 
County,  Massachusetts,  brother  of  the  brave  Gen 
eral  Strong  who  fell  in  leading  the  black  troops 


THE    GOULD    AND    CURRY   MINE.  149 

upon  the  forts  of  Charleston,  and  the  nephew  and 
adopted  son  of  Mr.  A.  L.  Strong  of  that  village. 
Mr.  Strong  took  charge  of  the  Gould  &  Curry  mine 
in  its  infancy,  and  carried  it  on  to  its  perfection  and 
triumph,  when,  about  a  year  and  a  half  ago,  his  con 
stitution  gave  way  under  its  great  responsibility  and 
work,  and  he  was  forced  to  retire.  At  one  time,  the/ 
mine  sold  at  the  rate  of  six  thousand  dollars  a  foot,j 
but  now  it  is  down  to  about  eighteen  hundred ;  for, 
though  it  is  producing  bullion  at  the  rate  of  two 
millions  a  year,  and  pays  handsome  monthly  divi 
dends  uninterruptedly,  it  has  about  exhausted  all 
the  valuable  ore  in  its  mine  at  the  present  depth, 
and  is  working  up  mainly  the  poorer  ore  that  it  re 
jected  in  its  first  progress  through  the  vein.  The 
company  is  now  making  an  important  experiment 
to  find  richer  ore  at  a  lower  depth ;  and  by  means 
of  a  tunnel,  started  half  a  mile  off  down  the  hill, 
and  a  shaft  one  thousand  feet  deep,  will  soon  open 
the  mine  that  distance  down.  The  future  fortunes 
of  the  company  hang  mainly  upon  the  result  of  this 
enterprise.  Not  only,  indeed,  that  of  the  Gould  & 
Curry,  but  of  most  of  the  enterprises  upon  the  Corn- 
stock  Ledge.  Many  of  them  have  reached,  or  seem 
to  be  reaching,  a  like  point  of  exhaustion  with  the 
Gould  &  Curry,  and  are  either  making  a  similar  ex 
periment,  or  are  awaiting  the  results  of  this.  The 
promises  of  a  successful  finding  are  certainly  quite 
encouraging,  and  they  are  strengthened  by  the  re 
cent  success  of  some  small  experiments  in  the  same 
direction  on  distant  parts  of  the  ledge,  which  seem 
to  indicate  improved  ore  at  the  greater  depths. 


I5O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

The  Ophir  Company  is  another  of  the  mammoth 
enterprises.  That,  too,  has  taken  out  twelve  mil 
lions  of  bullion,  but  the  stockholders  have  not  got. 
much  as  their  share,  in  consequen.ce  of  extravagant 
and  fickle  management,  and  experiments  that  proved 
expensive  failures.  The  Savage  Company,  owning 
another  large  and  successful  mine,  has  taken  out 
six  millions  bullion. 

That  part  of  the  Comstock  Ledge  lying  on  Gold 
Hill  is  divided  up  into  smaller  properties,  such  as  one 
hundred  and  two  hundred  feet,  and  one  as  low  as 
ten  feet,  measuring  on  the  surface ;  and  these  have 
been  worked  generally  to  better  advantage  than  the? 
sections  in  Virginia.  The  Empire  Company's  claim 
has  sold  as  high  as  eighteen  thousand  dollars  per 
foot,  the  highest  price  ever  obtained  for  any  mine 
here;  rTut  it  has  grown  less  profitable  and  inter 
rupted  its  dividends  since,  and  has  fallen  to  from 
three  thousand  to  four  thousand  dollars  a  foot. 
This  company  never  took  any  money  from  its 
stockholders,  and  in  only  one  month  through  its 
operations  of  some  years  has  it  failed  to  pay  ex 
penses.  Another  successful  and  now  popular  com 
pany  in  Gold  Hill  is  the  Yellow  Jacket,  which  has 
taken  out  about  two  millions  of  bullion,  and  paid  its. 
stockholders  three  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
dollars,  or  thirty-five  thousand  dollars  more  than  all 
their  assessments.  But  among  its  h,eavy  expendi 
tures,  which  suggests  one  cause  of  the  ruin  of  many 
of  these  mining  companies,  is  an  item  of  two  hun 
dred  and  seventy  thousand  dollars  for  "legal  ser 
vices  and  quieting  title." 


COST  AND   PROFIT  OF   THE   VIRGINIA  ORES.     151 

The  Comstock  Ledge  ore  is,  with  small  excep 
tions,  much  more  simple  in  its  combinations  than 
that  at  Austin,  and  requires  only  to  be  crushed  and 
amalgamated  to  extract  the  bullion.  These  two 
processes  will  produce  from  sixty  to  eighty  per  cent 
of  all  the  precious  metal.  It  is  also  less  rich  than 
the  Austin  ore ;  fifty  dollars  is  a  good  average  per 
ton,  and  is  about  what  the  Gould  &  Curry  claims 
for  what  it  works  of  its  own  ore.  But  the  average 
of  all  the  mines  is  even  less  than  that ;  one  mine 
reports  an  average  yield  for  the  year  of  but  $30.26 
per  ton  ;  and  the  product  of  the  whole  ledge  for  the 
first  three  months  of  the  present  year  is  given  to 
me  as  about  one  hundred  thousand  tons,  yielding 
nearly  four  millions  dollars,  and  averaging  a  frac 
tion  less  than  forty  dollars  To  meet  this  lower 
yield  per  ton,  however,  is  a  greatly  decreased  cost 
of  working  the  ore,  which  does  not  need  the  roast 
ing  or  smelting  process,  and  the  whole  expense  of 
mining  and  reducing  does  not  exceed  twenty-five 
dollars  a  ton,  and  is  even  brought  as  low  as  eighteen 
and  twenty  dollars  by  the  Gould  &  Curry  com 
pany.  The  probability  is  that  even  this  cost  may 
be  much  reduced,  and  that  ore  which  will  yield 
but  ten  and  fifteen  dollars  to  the  ton  can  soon  be 
worked  with  profit.  A  choice  selection  of  the 
Gould  &  Curry  ore,  such  as  promises  one  thousand 
dollars  a  ton  or  over, — for  there  are  streaks  of 
such  in  all  the  mines, — is  sent  to  Swanzey,  Wales, 
for  working ; — this  amounts  to  say  fifty  tons  a  year ; 
a  next  lower  quality,  which  will  yield  two  hundred 
or  three  hundred  dollars  a  ton,  and  amounts  to  some 


152  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

fifty  or  sixty  tons  a  month,  is  sent  over  into  the 
neighboring  valley  of  Washoe  to  be  treated-  by  the 
Frieburg  process,  which  includes  the  roasting,  and 
is  the  same  as  is  necessary  for  all  the  Reese  River 
ores.  The  balance  or  bulk  of  the  product  is  treated 
at  their  own  mill,  which  disposes  of  about  one  hun 
dred  tons  a  day,  or,  if  there  is  an  excess,  as  there 
often  is,  it  is  worked  at  some  neighboring  custom 
mills. 

There  are,  in  all,  seventy-seven  quartz  mills 
working  on  ore  from  the  Comstock  Ledge,  twenty- 
two  of  which  are  connected  with  mines,  and  fifty- 
five  are  custom  mills.  They  are  located  in  four 
different  counties,  only  about  half  being  in  the 
same  county  with  the  mines  whose  ores  they  crush. 
Fifty-four  of  them  are  run  by  steam,  twelve  by 
water,  and  eleven  by  water  and  steam  combined. 
They  have  in  all  one  thousand  and  nineteen  stamps, 
and  their  capacity  is  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  forty-two  tons  daily,  which  is  only  about  two- 
thirds  employed  now.  The  mines  have  been  run 
ning  down  in  daily  production,  from  one  thousand 
six  hundred  and  forty  tons  last  October  to  one  thou 
sand  in  June,  but  they  are  now  increasing  again ; 
and  if  the  present  search  for  paying  ore  at  lower 
depths  in  the  leading  mines  is  realized,  it  will 
speedily  go  up  to  a  higher  point  than  it  ever  before 
reached.  The  present  product  of  the  whole  State 
is  probably  nearly  twenty  millions  dollars  a  year, 
of  which  Austin  is  sending  forward  a  million  and  a 
quarter,  and  Virginia  and  Gold  Hill  fifteen  to  six 
teen  millions.  Though  the  bullion,  as  perfected 


CALIFORNIA'S  ACCOUNT  WITH  NEVADA.     153 

here,  looks  like  pure  silver,  nearly  or  quite  one-third 
of  it  in  value  is  really  gold ;  and  this  is  extracted 
after  it  gets  to  market,  in  England,  or  by  the  United 
States  mints  at  San  Francisco  and  in  the  East. 

During  the  great  excitement  of  1862,  when  the 
Austin  mines  were  first  discovered,  and  the  Corn- 
stock  Ledge  was  doing  its  best,  there  was  a  wild 
speculation  in  mining  properties,  and  many  bogus 
or  wildcat  claims  were  bought  and  sold,  and  numer 
ous  companies  organized  that  never  did  any  busi 
ness.  Some  statistics  before  me  give  seven  hundred 
as  the  number  of  companies  incorporated  to  operate 
on  the  Comstock  Ledge  alone ;  yet  of  these  but  one 
hundred  had  prospected  mines,  and  only  fourteen 
have  operated  so  successfully  as  to  pay  dividends. 

Most  of  the  capital  invested  in  the  Nevada  mines 
so  far  has  been  Californian ;  as  most  of  the  men 
engaged  upon  the  mines,  either  in  managing  or 
working  them,  are  from  that  State.  The  leading 
companies  are  owned  and  controlled  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  and  have  been  to  a  considerable  extent  the 
victims  of  vicious  stock  gambling,  which  the  real 
uncertainties  of  mining  and  the  ease  with  which 
bogus  uncertainties  can  be  plausibly  manufactured 
.have  tended  to  facilitate.  As  yet,  though  many 
great  fortunes  have  been  made,  both  from  the  mines 
and  the  commerce  they  have  developed,  California 
has  not  got  the  money  back  which  she  has  sent 
over  the  Sierras  into  Nevada;  some  say  she  has 
invested  many  times  as  much  as  she  has  received, 
and  that  not  one-twentieth,  not  one-fiftieth,  indeed, 
of  all  the  mining  enterprises  in  the  silver  State  have 
7* 


154  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

succeeded ;  but  a  probably  wiser  judgment  is  that, 
taking  the  conceded  values  of  the  newly  created 
property  in  Nevada,  she  pays  a  fair  profit  to-day ;  and 
that  while  one  hundred  millions  have  been  invested 
in  mills  and  mines,  and  only  sixty  millions  taken 
out  in  bullion,  the  mills  and  mines  are  worth  much 
more  than  the  balance.  Then  California  has  taught 
herself  and  the  country  how  to  mine  intelligently 
and  econ'omically  by  her  Nevada  experience ;  min 
ing  here  has  been  carried  to  greater  perfection  than 
ever  before  on  this  Continent ;  and  the  wisdom 
thus  acquired  is  already  going  back  to  profit  Cali 
fornia's  own  gold  mines,  and  remains  and  extends 
over  all  the  mining  region  as  a  sure  and  safe  basis 
for  all  future  operations. 

Eastern  capital  and  eastern  men  are  now  coming 
hither  in  force,  and  promise  soon  to  start  up  anew 
the  rather  dormant  life  of  the  State,  and  give  rapid 
and  profitable  development  to  its  great  mining 
wealth.  One  small  circle  of  New  York  capitalists 
have  already  invested  about  two  millions  dollars  in 
mills  and  mines  here  and  in  Austin,  and  by  the 
help  of  a  liberal  faith  and  the  employment  of  first- 
class  agents,  are  doing  well  in  all  their  enterprises. 
In  view  of  this  fact  and  example,  and  the  wide  in-, 
terest  manifest  throughout  the  East,  as  to  this  min 
ing  wealth  and  the  chances  for  realizing  from  it,  let 
me  organize  some  conclusions  from  my  various  ob 
servations  and  statistics : — 

i.  The  eastern  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas  in 
both  California  and  Nevada,  and  the  mountain 
ranges  of  Nevada,  are  undoubtedly  rich  in  copper, 


CONCLUSIONS    AS    TO    NEVADA    MINES.  1 55 

silver  and  gold,  silver  being  the  predominating  and 
most  available  metal. 

2.  In  spite  of  the  scarcity  of  wood  and  water, 
and  the  high  cost  of  labor  and  food,  consequent 
upon  the  great  distance  from  supplies,  and  the  lack 
of  railroad  communication,  the  extraction  of  these 
metals  will  pay  generously  for  the  wise,  careful,  hon 
est  and  persevering  employment  of  capital  and  labor. 

3.  TheComstock  Ledge  in  Virginia  and  its  neigh 
borhood  is  being  fully  developed,  and  offers  no  op 
portunities  for  new  enterprises;  though  as  Pacific 
capital  is  not  satisfied  with  less  than  fifty  or  seventy- 
five  per  cent,  per  annum,  and  eastern  is  happy  with 
twenty-five,  purchases  of  some  of  its  mines,  or  of 
interests  in  them,  might  be  favorably  effected  from 
the  latter  quarter  without  the  risk  of  new  enter 
prises.     But  those  who  undertake  such  purchases, 
or  indeed  any  investments  in  this  quarter,  must  not 
think  to  find  these  people  out  here  wanting  in  sharp 
ness  at  a  bargain.      Wall  street  is  easily  out-man 
aged  by  Montgomery  street,  and  an  old  miner,  who 
is  generally  a  traditional  Yankee  with  large  im 
provements,  will  fool  a  dozen  spectacled  professors 
from  your  colleges  in  a  single  day.     The  latter  sort 
of  people  are,  indeed,  at  a  great  discount  in  this 
region,  as  all  the  rules  of  science  with  which  they 
come  equipped,  are  outraged  and  defied  by  the  lo 
cation  and  combination  of  ores,  rocks,  oils  and  soils 
on  this  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

4.  The  mines  of  the  Reese  River  district  (Aus 
tin,  &c.,)  though  of  narrow  veins,  offer  a  very  prom- 
ising  field  for  new  enterprises.     They  are  richer, 


156  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

and  seem  to  be  more  certain  to  hold  out  than  those 
of  the  Comstock  Ledge;  though  in  the  matter  of 
continuance  they  need  yet  further  testing.  But  no 
such  enterprise  should  be  entered  upon  without 
first  sending  an  intelligent  agent  out  to  examine 
the  condition  of  things,  the  location  of  the  mines, 
their  improvements  and  promises  ;  and,  if  not  him 
self  a  miner,  he  should  call  to  his  aid  here  one  of 
that  class  upon  whom  he  can  rely  for  experience 
and  integrity. 

5.  Beginners  in  the  business  should  not  be  in 
haste  to  buy  or  erect  mills.     There  is  a  superabun 
dance  to-day  of  that  sort  of  property  on  the  Pacific 
Coast.     Those  at  Virginia  and  its  neighborhood  are 
not  worth  what  they  cost  (six  millions)  by  at  least 
twenty-five  or  thirty  per  cent. ;  and  stamps  and  en 
gines  can  probably  be  bought  cheaper  on  this  Coast 
than  they  can  be  bought  in  New  York  and  shipped 
around  or  across  the  mountains.     The  first  business 
is  to  work  the  mine  and  get  out  the  ore,  which  can 
be  crushed  at  the  custom  mills,  already  or  soon  to 
be  plenty,  in  the  neighborhood  of  all  the  mining 
centers ;  and  then  measuring  the  profits  thus  real 
ized,  and  finding  them  sure  and  reliable,  the  mana 
gers  can  decide  whether  it  is  best  to  extend  opera 
tions  with  them,  by  buying  and  working  more  mines 
or  by  running  their  own  mills. 

6.  Everything  depends  upon  an  intelligent  and 
faithful  superintendent.     I  meet  many  such  here, 
experienced  Californians,  Englishmen  from  the  Mex 
ican  mines,  Germans  of  both  practice  and  theory 
at  home,  New  York  and  Boston  merchants.     Fore- 


HINTS   TO    CAPITALISTS.  157 

men  of  mills  and  mines,  first  promoted  from  pick 
and  shovel,  are  good  material  for  such  positions, 
and  are  gaining  them.  The  miners  as  a  class  are 
of  a  higher  grade  than  eastern  laborers,  and  they 
offer  many  individuals  fit  for  the  upper  places  in 
the  business.  I  was  impressed  with  the  wisdom  of 
an  organization  which  a  party  of  Rhode  Island  cap 
italists  had  made  in  Colorado.  They  combined 
four  or  five  different  mines  and  mills,  each  distinct 
in  its  affairs,  under  the  general  management  or  over- 
seership  of  an  experienced  scientific  miner  from  Cal 
ifornia,  and  sent  along  with  him  from  home  a  com 
mon  treasurer  and  accountant.  In  this  way  they 
got  the  benefit  of  the  best  talent  and  experience, 
and  the  most  reliable  guardianship  over  the  expen 
ditures,  without  making  the  cost  thereof  too  heavy. 

7.  Do  not  make  the  capital  of  your  mining  com 
pany  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  cost  of  the  enter 
prise.     Avoid  putting  up  a  property,  that  has  cost 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  and  needs  a  working 
capital  of  as  much  more,  to  two  millions,  because 
you  may  hope  sometime  to  pay  a  ten  per  cent,  div 
idend  on  such  a  sum.     And  then,  again,  do  not  in 
sist  on  having  a  dividend  at  the  end  of  the  first 
thirty  days,  unless  you  are  ready  to  pay  an  assess 
ment  at  the  beginning  thereof  to  meet  it. 

8.  When  somebody  offers  you  a  mine,  whose  ore 
assays  one  thousand  or  ten  thousand  dollars  a  ton, 
you  need  not  necessarily  disbelieve  him,  but  do  not 
necessarily  conclude  that  all  its  ore,  for  an  indefinite 
distance   into  the  earth,  is  of  equal  value.      The 
Comstock  Ledge  was  opened  with  a  cfeunk  that 


158  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

yielded  twenty  thousand  to  thirty  thousand  dollars 
per  ton,  or  at  that  rate ;  but  as  I  have  told  you,  the 
mines  on  that  ledge  that  are  paying  at  all,  do  not 
average  forty  dollars  from  their  ore.  Every  day  new 
discoveries  are  being  made,  south  and  nortlj,  in  the 
State,  of  lodes  whose  surface  ore  pays,  according  to 
report,  any  amount  this  side  of  one  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars  a  ton!  yet  it  does  not  follow  that  the 
mine  below  it  will  even  pay  for  working.  For  these 
are  among  the  doubtful  things  that  are  very  uncer 
tain  in  their  progress.  Even  the  poorest  mines 
have  their  streaks  and  chunks  of  rich  ore ;  do  not, 
therefore,  judge  by  a  single  fist-full  nor  by  an  assay ; 
but  invest  your  money  only  after  you  have  ascer 
tained  how  much  your  mine  will  practically  work 
out,  cart-load  by  cart-load,  without  culling. 

9.  And   if   you   have   neither   time   nor  money 
enough,  nor  disposition,  perhaps,  to  go  largely  into 
these  mining  enterprises,  and  follow  their  manage 
ment  intelligently,  but  still  would  like  to  make  some  "" 
small  ventures  to  fortune  in  this  direction,  seek  out 
some  company  that  are  in  or  going  into  the  busi 
ness,  on  these  principles,  and  that  have  got  a  rea 
sonably  sure  thing  of  it,  and  make  your  investment 
with  them ;   and  then  be  content  with  twenty-five 
per  cent,  return  for  your  money.     If  it  yields  more, 
give  it  away  in  charity, — if  less,  or  even  nothing, 
don't  swear  nor  mention  it  to  your  wife. 

10.  And  finally, — though  the   subject,  like   the 
veins,  is  inexhaustible, — if  you  read  so  far  as  this, 
and  make  profitable  use  of  these  suggestions,  "  re 
member  the  printer,"  when  the  dividends  come  in. 


LETTER    XVI. 

THE    CONTINENT   ACROSS:    THE    RIDE    OVER   THE 
SIERRAS. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  July  4. 

ACROSS  the  Continent !  The  Great  Ride  is  fin 
ished.  Fifteen  hundred  miles  of  railroad,  two  thou 
sand  of  staging,  again  sixty  miles  of  railway,  and 
then  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  by  steamboat  down 
the  Sacramento  River,  and  the  goal  is  reached,  the 
Continent  is  spanned.  Seven  weeks  of  steady  jour 
neying,  within  hail  of  a  single  parallel  line  from  east 
to  west,  and  still  the  Republic !  Still  the  old  flag,— 
the  town  is  gay  with  its.  beauty  to-day, — still  the 
same  Fourth  of  July ; — better  than  all,  still  the  same 
people,  with  hearts  aglow  with  the  same  loyalty  and 
pride  in  the  American  Union,  aad  the  same  purpose 
and  the  same  faith  for  its  future. 

Greater  the  wonder  grows  at  the  extent  of  the 
Republic ;  but  larger  still  our  wonder  at  the  myste 
rious  but  unmistakable  homogeneity  of  its  people. 
San  Francisco,  looking  westward  to  the  Orient  for 
greatness,  cooling  its  summer  heats  with  Pacific 
breezes,  thinks  the  same  thoughts,  breathes  the 
same  patriotism,  burns  with  the  same  desires  that 


160  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

inspire  New  York  and  Boston,  whose  outlook  is 
eastward,  and  which  seem  to  borrow  their  civiliza 
tion  with  their  commerce  from  Europe.  Sacra 
mento  talks  as  you  do  in  Springfield;  Nevada, 
over  the  mountains,  almost  out  of  the  wofld,  an 
ticipates  New  England  in  her  judgments, and  makes 
up  her  verdict,  while  those  close  to  the  "  Hub  of  the 
Universe"  are  looking  over  the  testimony. 

It  is  this  that  is  the  greatest  thing  about  our  coun 
try  ;  that  makes  it  the  wonder  of  nations,  the  mar 
vel  of  history, — the  unity  of  its  people  in  ideas  and 
purpose;  their  quick  ^assimilation  of  all  emigra 
tion, — come  it  so  far  or  so  various ;  their  simul 
taneous  and  similar  currents  of  thought,  their  spon 
taneous,  concurrent  formation  and  utterance  of  a 
united  Public  Opinion.  This  is  more  than  extent 
of  territory,  more  than  wealth  of  resource,  more 
than  beauty  of  landscape,  more  than  variety  of  cli 
mate  and  productions,  more  than  marvelous  mate 
rial  development,  more  than  cosmopolitan  popula 
tions,  because  it  exists  in  spite  of  them,  and  con 
quers  them  all  by  its  subtle  electricity. 

It  is  very  interesting,  indeed,  to  stand  amid  this 
civilization  of  half  a  generation ;  to  see  towns  that 
were  not  in  1850,  now  wearing  an  old  and  almost 
decaying  air ;  to  walk  up  and  down  the  close  built 
streets  of  this  metropolis,  and  doubt  whether  they 
look  most  like  Paris  or  New  York,  Brussels  or 
Turin ;  to  count  the  ocean  steamers  in  the  bay,  or 
passing  out  through  the  narrow  crack  in  the  coast 
hills  beautifully  called  the  Golden  Gate,  and  wonder 
as  you  finish  your  fingers  where  they  all  came  from 


THE   CIVILIZATION   OF  THE  PACIFIC   COAST.     l6l 

and  are  going  to ;  to  find  an  agriculture  richer  and 
more  various  than  that  of  Illinois ;  to  feast  the 
senses  on  a  horticulture  that  marries  the  temperate 
and  torrid  zones,  and  makes  of  every  yard  and  gar 
den  and  orchard  one  immense  eastern  green-house ; 
to  observe  a  commerce  and  an  industry  that  supply 
every  comfort,  minister  to  every  taste  and  fill  the 
shops  with  every  article  of  convenience  and  luxury 
that  New  York  or  Paris  can  boast  of,  and  at  prices 
as  cheap  as  those  of  the  former  city  to-day ;  to  find 
homes  more  luxurious  than  are  often  seen  in  the 
eastern  States,  and  to  be  challenged  unsuccessfully 
to  name  the  city  whose  ladies  dress  more  magnifi 
cently  than  those  of  San  Francisco. 

None  of  this  surprises  me.  I  had  large  ideas  of 
the  Pacific  Coast  and  its  development ;  and  I  long 
ago  gave  up  being  surprised  at  any  victories  of  the 
American  mind  and  hand  over  raw  American  mat 
ter.  Still,  Nevada  and  California,  with  towns  and 
cities  of  two  to  fifteen  years'  growth,  yet  to-day  all 
full-armed  in  the  elements  of  civilization,  wanton 
with  the  luxuries  of  the  senses,  rich  in  the  social 
amenities,  supplied  with  churches  and  schools  and 
libraries,  even  affecting  high  art,  are  wonderful  illus 
trations  of  the  rapidity  and  ease  with  which  our 
people  organize  society  and  State,  and  surround 
themselves  with  all  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of 
metropolitan  life.  The  history  of  the  world  else 
where  offers  no  parallels  to  these. 

At  present,  and  in  comparison  with  the  flush 
times  of  their  first  creative  years,  the  States  and 
towns  of  the  Pacific  Coast  are  but  slowly  grow- 

n 


l62  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

ing,  and  business  is  dull.  Many  mining  towns  are 
indeed  falling  back,  if  not  approaching  desertion. 
Founded  on  temporary  interests, — the  sands  of  their 
streams  all  washed  out,  they  are  deserted  for  fresher 
fields.  But  new  interests,  as  agriculture  and  manu 
factures,  and  new  and  closer  modes  of  extracting 
their  mineral  wealth  will  sooner  or  later  restore  most 
of  these ;  in  some  instances  are  already  beginning 
to  do  so.  The  general  comparative  dullness  is  but 
a  natural  and  temporary  reaction  from  a  hot  and 
stimulated  development.  Our  great  war  and  its  in 
terests  have  occupied  the  Nation's  life  and  thought, 
and  centered  it  in  the  East,  absorbing  its  capital 
and  offering  rare  opportunities,  also,  for  new  indus 
tries  and  speculations.  California,  was  too  far  away 
to  share  in  this  stimulus ;  and  by  rejecting  the  na 
tional  currency  that  was  one  of  its  elements,  she 
has  even  denied  herself  the  benefits  of  its  overflow. 
But  by  drouth  in  her  agriculture,  by  losses  in  many 
of  her  mining  operations,  by  the  cessation  of  the 
heavy  tide  of  emigration,  and  by  the  narrow  policy 
of  her  bankers  and  capitalists,  she  has  been  gather 
ing  valuable  lessons  of  experience ;  she  has  learned 
both  how  to  farm  and  mine ;  she  has  come  to  appre 
ciate  her  great  wants  of  capital  and  labor ;  and  she 
is  in  fine  condition  to  receive  and  accept  the  new 
stimulus,  that  is  already  drawing  out  of  her  own 
trials  a  more  economical  and  intelligent  prosperity, 
and  bringing  in  a  new  tide  of  means  and  men  from 
the  East.  Farmers  may  be  poor;  country  mer 
chants  may  be  bankrupt ;  gambling  may  be  at  a  low 
ebb  in  the  mining  towns ;  labor  comparatively  low, 


THE    NEVADA    SIDE    OF    THE    SIERRAS.          163 

and  pan  washings  unremunerative ;  San  Francisco 
brokers  and  bankers  may,  as  is  charged,  have  sucked 
the  life  out  of  the  interior ; — here,  indeed,  may  rents 
be  falling  and  houses  unoccupied :  but  the  real  in 
dustries  of  the  Pacific  Coast  were  never  more  pro 
ductive  and  promising  than  now, — never  so  much, 
in  any  previous  year,  of  hay  and  grain ;  of  vegeta 
bles  and  fruit,  of  gold  and  silver  brought  out  of  the 
ground,  as  is  and  will  -be  in  this  year  of  1 865^  This 
is  the  test  and  promise  of  prosperity ;  and/this  year 
will  date  a  renewal  of  life  and  growth  to  California 
and  its  adjacent  States, — not  so  hot  and  feverish 
and  rabid  as  that  of  '49  and  '50  and  '59  and  '60,  but 
strong  enough  to  satisfy  a  just  ambition,  and  sure 
enough  to  encourage  permanent  investments  and 
permanent  citizenship, — the  real  foundations  and 
security  of  a  State. 

But  to  go  back  on  the  record  of  our  journey: 
Our  last  day  in  Nevada  was  passed  among  its  pleas- 
antest  and  richest  valleys,  under  the  shadows  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  mountains,  and  rejoicing  in  the  fer 
tilizing  streams  from  their  springs  and  snows.  Here, 
in  the  valleys  of  the  Truckee,  the  Washoe,  and  the 
Carson,  is  the  garden  of  the  State ;  here  were  a  few 
agricultural  settlers,  fifteen  and  twenty  years  ago, 
colonists  from  Utah,  to  which  all  this  region  was 
originally  attached.  Now,  the  Mormons  are  dis 
placed  by  a  more  vigorous  and  varied  population, 
prosperous  with  farming,  with  lumbering  among  the 
rich  pines  of  the  Sierras,  and  with  quartz  mills,  seek 
ing  proximity  here  to  wood  and  water,  and  fed  by 
the  mines  over  the  hills  in  Virginia  and  Gold  HilL 


164  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Skirting  the  hill-sides  from  Virginia  at  early 
morning,  on  a  capital  toll  road,  that  runs  from 
mountain  to  mountain  on  a  common  level,  we 
breakfasted  at  Steamboat  Springs,  where  the  phe 
nomenon  of  an  immense  natural  tea-kettle  is  in  op 
eration.  For  a  mile  or  more  along  a  little  stream, 
underneath  a  thin  crust  of  earth,  water  immeasura 
ble  is  seething  and  boiling,  and  occasionally  break 
ing  through  in  columns  of  steam  and  in  bubbling 
spouts  and  streams, — top  hot  to  bear  the  hand  in  ; 
— the  waste  drawn  off  to  a  neighboring  bath-house 
where  chronic  rheumatisms  and  blood  affections  are 
successfully  treated,  or  tempering  the  cool  river  be 
low.  The  boiling  springs  are  flavored  with  sulphur 
and  soda,  and  are  similar  to  the  more  celebrated 
Geysers  in  California.  In  the  winter  the  vapor  fills 
the  valley,  and  from  this  and  the  rumbling,  bubbling 
noise  of  the  seething  waters,  comes  the  name  of 
Steamboat  Springs.  Down  the  valleys  we  drove 
to  Washoe  Village  and  Lake, — here  speeches  and 
lunch, — and  then  farther  on  to  Carson  City,  the 
capital  of  the  young  State,  where  the  inevitable 
brass  band,  a  militia  company  of  twelve  privates, 
"and  nary  two  alike,"  more  speeches  and  a  dinner 
from  Governor  Blaisdell  were  the  programme. 

C^Here  we  confronted  the  long-looked-for,  the  even 
long-seen  Sierra  Nevadas,  the  Andes  of  North 
America,  the  distinctive  range  of  our  Pacific  States, 
fountain  of  their  streams,  source  and  bearer  of  their 
mineral  wealth,  chief  element  and  parent  of  their 
beauty  of  landscape,  and  replenisher  of  their  fer- 
tilitv  of  soil  To  us,  too,  long  on  the  desert  plain 


THE    RIDE    OVER   THE    SIERRAS.  1 65 

and  the  barren  mountain, — sad-eyed  with  weeks 
away  from  forests  and  sparkling  waters,  and  the 
verdure  of  grass  and  vines  and  flowers, — they  of 
fered  indeed  the  golden  pathway  to  the  Golden 
Gate  of  the  Pacific. 

The  ride  over  the  mountains,  down  their  western 
valleys,  on  to  the  ocean,  was  a  succession  of  de 
lights  and  surprises.  The  surging  and  soughing  of, 
the  wind  among  the  tall  pines  of  the  Sierras  came 
like  sweetest  music,  laden  with  memories  of  home 
and  friends  and  youth.  Brass  bands  begone,  operas 
avaunt !  in  such  presence  as  we  found  ourselves  on 
the  mountain  top  of  a  moonlight  night,  by  the  banks 
of  Lake  Tahoe,  among  forests  to  which  the  largest 
of  New  England  are  but  pigmies,  lying  and  listening 
by  the  water  to  the  coming  of  the  Pacific  breeze 
and  its  delicate  play  upon  the  high  tree-tops.  All 
human  music  was  but  sound  and  fury  signifying 
nothing,  before  such  harmonies  of  high  nature. 
The  pines  of  these  mountains  are  indeed  mon 
sters, — three,  four,  five  feet  through,  and  running 
up  to  heaven  for  light,  straight  and  clear  as  an 
arrow  by  the  hundred  feet, — suggestive  forerunners 
of  the  "  big  trees  "  of  Calaveras  and  Mariposa,  that 
we  are  yet  to  see.  Rich  green-yellow  mosses  cling 
to  many  a  trunk;  and  firs  and  balsams  fill  up  the 
vacant  spots  between  the  kingly  pines  ;  while  laugh 
ing  waters  sport  lustily  before  our  unaccustomed 
eyes,  among  the  rocks  in  the  deep  ravines,  along 
and  far  below  the  road  on  which  our  horses  gallop 
up  hill  and  down  at  a  fearful  pace. 

The  initial  trip  of  a  little  steamer  upon  Lake 


l66  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

Tahoe  (formerly  Lake  Bigler)  was  among  the  nov 
elties  of  our  mountain  experience.  This  is  one  of 
the  beautiful  lakes  of  the  world,  richly  ranking  with 
those  of  Scotland  and  Swiss-Italy,  and  destined  to 
arouse  as  wide  enthusiasm.  It  is  located  up  among 
the  mountains,  itself  six  thousand  five  hundred  feet 
high,  overlooked  by  snow-capped  peaks,  bordered 
by  luscious  forests  ;  stretches  wide  for  eight  to  four 
teen  miles  in  extent,  with  waters  clear  and  rare  al 
most  as  air, — so  rare,  indeed,  that  not  even  a  sheet 
of  paper  can  float,  but  quickly  sinks,  and  swimming 
is  nearly  impossible  ;  and.abounds  in  trout : — where, 
indeed,  are  more  elements  of  lake  beauty  and  at 
traction  ?  Already,  though  far  from  heavy  popula 
tions,  it  has  its  mountain  and  lake  hotel,  and  draws 
many  summer  visitors  from  California  and  Nevada. 
From  Lake  Tahoe  to  Placerville,  the  first  consid 
erable  town  in  California,  is  seventy-five  miles  of 
well-graded  Toad,  up  to  the  mountain  summits,  and 
down  on  the  western  side ;  and  the  drive  over  it, 
made  in  less  than  seven  hours,  even  surpassed  any 
that  had  gone  before  in  rapidity  and  brilliancy  of 
execution.  With  six  horses,  fresh  and  fast,  we 
swept  up  the  hill  at  a  trot,  and  rolled  down  again 
at  their  sharpest  gallop,  turning  abrupt  corners 
without- a  pull-up,  twisting  among  and  by  the  loaded 
teams  of  freight  toiling  over  into  Nevada,  and  run 
ning  along  the  edge  of  high  precipices,  all  as  deftly 
as  the  skater  flies  or  the  steam  car  runs ;  though 
for  many  a  moment  we  held  our  fainting  breath  »t 
what  seemed  great  risks  or  dare-devil  performances. 
The  road  is  excellent,  hard  and  macadamized,  con- 


THE    SCENERY   OF    THE    SIERRAS.  l6/ 

structed  by  private  enterprise  and  imposing  heavy 
tolls,  and  therefore  far  different  from  that,  whose 
rough  remains  and  steep  passages  are  occasionally 
met  on  the  mountain  side,  over  which  Mr.  Greeley 
made  his  famous  ride  six  years  ago.  /.  j. 

But  there  is  no  stage-riding,  no  stage-driving,  left 
in  the  States, — I  doubt  if  there  ever  was  any, — at 
all  comparable  to  this  in  perfection  of  discipline,  in 
celerity  and  comfort,  and  in  manipulation  of  the 
reins.  Mr.  Colfax  well  said,  in  one  of  his  speeches, 
that  as  it  was  said  to  require  more  talent  to  cross 
Broadway  than  to  be  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  the 
country,  so  he  was  sure  much  more  was  necessary 
to  drive  a  stage  down  the  Sierras  as  we  were  driven, 
than  to  be  a  member  of  Congress.  For  a  week,  \\ 
at  least,  we  worshiped  our  knights  of  the  whip.  '  • 
Think,  too,  of  a  stage-road  one  hundred  miles  long, 
from  Carson  to  Placerville,  watered  as  city  streets 
are  watered,  to  lay  the  dust  for  the  traveler !  Yet 
this  luxury  is  performed  through  nearly  the  entire 
route,  day  by  day,  all  the  summer  season. 

All  over  the  Sierras  in  our  road,  the  scenery  is 
full  of  various  beauty ;  some  of  its  features  I  have 
mentioned  ;  but  another  chief  one  was  the  high 
walls  of  rock,  rising  abruptly  and  perpendicularly 
from  the  valley  for  many  hundreds  of  feet.  Many 
a  rich  boulder,  anon  a  hill,  and  a  frequent  mountain 
peak  of  pure  rock,  thousands  of  feet  high,  like  pyr 
amids  of  Egypt,  are  seen  along  the  passage.  The 
s  whole  scenery  of  the  Sierras  is  more  like  that  of 
the  Alps  than  any  other  in  America,  and  has  even 
features  of  surpassing  attraction. 


1 68  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

At  Placerville,  among  vineyards  and  orchards 
and  flower  gardens,  a  night ;  three  speeches  from 

Speaker  Colfax,  and  a  grand  midnight  dinner  ; at 

Sacramento,  sixty  miles  hence  by  a  railroad,  which 
is  seeking  the  mountains,— a  superb  breakfast  and 
two  speeches  and  more  roses, — and  thence  by 
steamboat,  large  and  elegant  as  the  best  of  Sound 
and  North  River  boats,  and  all  built  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  through  wide  grain  fields,  yellow  with  harvest 
and  sun,  we  came  to  refreshing  halt  in  the  luxurious 
halls  of  the  Occidental  Hotel,  of  famous  Leland 
creation  and  supervision,  late  on  the  last  Saturday 
night. 

My  memory  is  crowded  with  observations  in  Cal 
ifornia  and  Nevada,  yet  to  be  compacted  for  your 
reading ;  but  the  journey  cannot  wait  now  for  them. 
My  steps  move  faster  than  my  pen.  Next  Mon 
day, — after  a  crowded  week  of  sight-seeing  and 
hospitality  in  San  Francisco  and  vicinity, — we  re 
trace  our  steps  as  far  as  the  mountains  on  a  more 
northern  route,  and  thence  into  the  most  interesting 
gold-quartz  mining  region,  and  on  along  the  valleys 
on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Sierras  north  to  Oregon, 
and  back,  through  British  Columbia,  and  by  the 
ocean,  the  first  of  August. 


LETTER    XVII. 

OVERLAND    TO    OREGON. 


PORTLAND,  Oregon,  July  20. 

I  WAS  prepared  for  California.  But  Oregon  is 
more  of  a  revelation.  It  has  rarer  natural  beauties, 
richer  resources,  a  larger  development,  and  a  more 
promising  future  than  I  had  learned  of.  The  dazzle 
of  gold  and  silver  has  made  California  more  con 
spicuous  in  eastern  eyes.  Our  visit  here  has  there 
fore  had  the  always  delicious  element  of 'unexpected 
ness  in  its  pleasures.  There  was  some  rebellious 
flesh  among  us,  when  we  were  told  that  to  see  Ore 
gon  we  must  take  another  week  of  day  and  night 
stage  riding ;  much  of  it  on  rough  mountain  roads, 
and  in  a  "mud  wagon"  at  that.  We  thought  to 
have  been  through  with  that  sort  of  travel.  But 
no  week's  riding  has  given  us  greater  or  richer  va 
riety  of  experience;  more  beauty  of  landscape; 
more  revelation  of  knowledge ;  more  pleasure  and 
less  pain,  than  this  one  up  through  northern  Cali 
fornia  and  middle  Oregon,  between  the  coast  moun 
tains  and  the  Skrra  Nevadas. 

Our  point  of  departure  was  Sacramento,  and  the 
distance  to  Portland  from  there  is  six  hundred  and 
8 


ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

fifty  miles,  due  north.  Two  short  bits  of  railroad 
put  us  forward  in  the  Sacramento  valley  about  fifty 
miles ;  at  Oroville  we  began  the  stage  ride  proper, 
up  still  for  another  one  hundred  miles  in  the  broad 
and  generally  rich  and  beautiful  valley  of  the  Sac 
ramento  and  its  tributaries, — sometimes  rolling  in 
waves  of  earth,  then  flat  and  wide  as  flattest  and 
widest  of  Illinois  prairies,  often  treeless  and  unculti 
vated,  though  not  uncultivatable ;  and  again  charm 
ing  with  old  oak  groves,  and  fruitful  with  grain  fields 
and  orchards,  that  yield  an  increas-e  unknown  in  all 
eastern  or  western  valleys.  At  Chico,  we  took  sup 
per  with  General  Bidwell,  one  of  the  pioneers  jof 
the  Pacific  Coast,  and  one  of  the  new  members  of 
Congress  from  California.  Jilted  by  a  young  wo 
man  who  chose  a  lover  with  more  acres,  he  turned 
rover,  and  came  out  here  from  Missouri  as  early  as 
1841  as  one  of  a  secret  filibustering  party,  that  in 
tended  to  get  up  a  revolution  against  Mexico,  then 
the  parent  of  this  region,  and  join  California  to  the 
then  lone  star  republic  of  Texas.  The  scheme  was 
fruitless,  but  General  Bidwell  became  the  owner  of 
one  of  the  famous  Spanish  grants  of  land  in  the 
richest  part  of  this  valley,  and  now  has  a  farm  of 
twenty  thousand  of  its  acres,  of  which  one  thou 
sand  eight  hundred  are  under  cultivation.  His  crop 
of  wheat,  in  1863,  was  thirty-six  thousand  bushels, 
from  nine  hundred  acres  of  land,  or  at  the  average 
rate  of  forty  bushels  to  the  acre.  This  is  a  poorer 
grain  year,  and  his  wheat  will  average  but  thirty 
bushels  per  acre.  The  general  avlrage  of  the  val 
ley  is  twenty-five  bushels.  Of  barley  and  oats,  his 


JOHN  BROWN'S  FAMILY.  171 

other  principal  crops,  he  usually  harvests  fifty  bush 
els  to  the  acre.  His  garden  and  orchard  cover  one 
hundred  acres.  A  large  flouring  mill  is  among  his 
concerns,  and  its  product  is  the  favorite  brand  of 
the  State.  Add  to  these  illustrative  facts  of  his 
wealth,  and  of  the  beauty  and  productiveness  of 
the  country,  that  General  Bidwell  still  seems  a 
young  man,  is  fresh  and  handsome  and  of  winning 
manners, — a  bachelor,  and  intends  to  keep  house 
in  Washington  during  his  congressional  term,  and 
do  I  not  equally  interest  farmers,  statisticians  and 
the  ladies  of  our  capital's  society  ? 

On  through  a  like  productive  country,  crossing 
streams  whose  banks  are  lined  with  an  almost  trop 
ical  growth  of  trees  and  vines,  along  roads  bordered 
with  fences  and  trees,  by  farms  and  orchards  rich 
in  grains  and  fruits,  we  make  our  first  night  ride, 
passing  in  the  gray  morning  the  prosperous  little 
town  of  Red  Bluffs,  which  is  noteworthy  "as  the 
head  of  navigation  on  the  Sacramento  River, — some 
three  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth, — and  so  a  cen 
tral  point  of  commerce  for  all  northern  California 
and  southern  Oregon,  and  as  the  present  home  of 
the  widow  and  daughters  of  the  immortal  John 
Brown.  They  straggled  in  here,  weary  and  poor, 
from  their  overland  journey,  but  found  most  hospit 
able  greeting  from  the  citizens  and  have  secured  a 
permanent  home.  A  subscription  among  the  Cali- 
fornians  generally  will  give  them  soon  a  nice  cot 
tage  ;  Mrs.  Brown  earns  both  love  and  support  as 
a  successful  nurse  and  doctor,  particularly  for  chil 
dren  ;  her  two  older  daughters  are  teachers  in  the 


1/2  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

public  schools ;  and  the  younger  one  is  herself  a 
pupil. 

Now  the  valley  grows  narrow,  the  mountains  east 
and  west  chassez  across  and  in  among  each  other, 
and  for  the  remaining  two  hundred  miles  of  Cali 
fornia,  and  the  first  two  hundred  of  Oregon,  we 
are  winding  among  the  hills  and  following  up  and 
down  narrow  valleys,  first  of  tributaries  of  the 
Sacramento,  and  then  of  minor  though  earnest 
streams, — Trinity,  Klamath,  Rogue  and  Umpqua, — 
that  steal  their  way,  among  the  now  scattered  and 
mingling  ranges  of  coast  and  Sierra  Nevada,  west 
to  the  ocean. 

Shasta  and  Yreka  are  the  two  remaining  villages 
of  importance  in  California,  with  perhaps  fifteen 
hundred  inhabitants  each.  Born  of  rich  placer  gold 
diggings  in  neighboring  valleys  and  gulches,  but 
bereft  of  half  of  their  former  population  by  the 
discovery  of  more  tempting  fields  elsewhere,  and 
the  inherent  migratory  character  of  gold  seekers, 
they  present  a  sad  array  of  unoccupied  stores  and 
houses,  like,  indeed,  to  nearly  every  other  of  the  in 
terior  mining  towns  of  California.  Their  second 
reactionary  stage  now  seems  beginning,  however; 
a  more  careful  and  intelligent  working  of  the  gold 
sands  and  banks  proves  them  still  profitable, — in 
some  cases  richly  so ;  the  Chinese  are  coming  in 
to  work  over  the  neglected  courses,  satisfied  with 
smaller  returns  than  the  whites ;  and  best  of  all, 
agriculture,  hitherto  despised,  is  asserting  its  legiti 
mate  place  as  the  base  of  all  true  and  steady  pros 
perity.  The  valleys,  though  small,  are  fruitful,  and 


MOUNT    SHASTA.  173 

many  of  the  hill-sides  are  equally  rich  for  grain  and 
fruit.  These  hills  of  northern  California  and  south 
ern  Oregon  seem,  indeed,  the  true  home  of  apple, 
pear  and  grape,  and  are  sure  to  have  a  large  place 
in  the  future  fruit-growing  and  wine-making  pros 
perity  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 

Beyond  Shasta,  just  out  of  the  valley,  we  stopped 
to  dine  at  a  most  inviting  hotel,  amid  garden  and 
orchard  of  great  fruitfulness,  which  I  found  to  be 
"The  Tower  House,"  and  the  proprietor  Mr.  Levi 
H.  Tower,  whom  you  Springfield  people  of  fifteen 
and  twenty  years'  residence  will  remember  as  a 
prominent  armorer,  foreman  of  the  Eagle  Engine 
Company,  and  a  popular  young  man,  up  to  1849, 
when  he  cast  in  his  fortunes  with  the  first  emi 
gration  to  California.  After  years  of  the  ups  and 
downs  that  belong  to  nearly  every  experience  on 
this  Coast,  he  has  become  prosperous,  and  grown 
stout,  but  keeps  his  Springfield  memories  green, 
and  is  yet  a  bachelor.  Two  of  his  sisters  and  a 
brother-in-law  live  upon  his  place.  He  owns  a  toll- 
road  over  the  mountain,  and  his  orchard,  only  five 
years  old,  produced  last  year  three  thousand  bushels 
of  peaches,  one  thousand  five  hundred  bushels  of 
apples,  and  grapes  by  the  ton,  for  which  he  finds 
market  among  the  miners  in  the  mountains  around, 
and  in  the  villages  north  and  south. 

Along  here,  individual  mountains  assumed  a  rare 
majesty ;  snow  peaks  were  visible,  ten  thousand  and 
eleven  thousand  feet  high ;  and  soon,  too,  Mount 
Shasta,  monarch  of  the  Sierras  in  northern  Cali 
fornia,  reared  its  lofty  crown  of  white,  conspicuous 


1/4  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

among  hills  of  five  thousand  and  six  thousand  feet, 
both  for  its  vast  fields  of  snow,  its  perfect  shape, 
and  its  hight  of  fourteen  thousand  four  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea  level.  We  saw  it  from  various 
points  and  all  sides,  and  everywhere  it  was  truly  a 
King  of  the  Mountains,  and  is  entitled  to  rank 
among  the  first  dozen  mountain  peaks  of  the  world. 

Jacksonville  was  the  first  conspicuous  town  in 
Oregon,  and  showed  obvious  first-cousinship  to 
Yreka  and  Shasta.  But  its  neighboring  gold  dig 
gings  made  better  report ;  many  of  the  five  hund 
red  men  engaged  upon  them  in  the  county  were 
very  prosperous,  and  all  were  making  good  wages ; 
promising  quartz  mines  were  also  discovered  ;  and 
we  found,  everywhere  almost  in  these  mountain 
counties  of  northern  California  and  southern  Ore 
gon,  gathering  evidences  of  much  gold  yet  un- 
crushed  or  undug,  that  would  still  form  the  basis, 
with  cheaper  and  more  abundant  labor  and  capital, 
of  a  large  population  and  a  new  material  growth 
for  this  region.  The  northern  county  of  California 
(Siskiyou)  counts  no  fewer  than  two  thousand  Chi 
nese  among  its  population,  and  of  these,  eleven 
hundred  are  engaged  in  gold  digging,  from  whom 
as  foreigners  the  State  gathers  a  tax  of  four  dollars 
a  month  each,  or  from  fifty  thousand  to  sixty  thou 
sand  dollars  a  year.  That  they  pay  this  enormous 
tribute,  and  still  keep  at  work,  shows  well  enough 
that  it  pays  them  to  wash  and  re-wash  the  golden 
sands  of  these  valleys. 

The  scenery  of  this  region  is  full  of  various  beauty. 
Of  conspicuous  single  objects,  Pilot  Knob,  a  great 


THE  TREES  AND  THE  MISTLETOE.      1/5 

chunk  of  bare  rock  standing  on  a  mountain  top, 
ranks  next  to  Mount  Shasta;  it  must  be  eight 
hundred  to  one  thousand  feet  high  in  itself,  and 
seen  from  all  quarters,  it  has  been  famous  as  a  pilot 
to  the  early  emigrants  in  their  journey  across  the 
mountains.  The  hills  are  rich  with  pine  forests, 
and  these  grow  thicker  and  the  trees  larger  and  of 
greater  variety,  as  also  the  valleys  widen  and  seem 
more  fertile,  as  the  road  progresses  into  Oregon. 
Firs  rival  the  pines  and  grow  to  similar  size,  one 
hundred  and  two  hundred  feet  high  and  three  to 
five  feet  in  diameter.  Farther  up  in  Oregon,  about 
the  Columbia  River,  the  fir  even  dominates,  and  is 
the  chief  timber,  and  specimens  of  it  are  recorded 
that  are  twelve  feet  through  and  three  hundred  feet 
high !  The  oak,  too,  has  its  victories  in  the  valleys, 
and  we  ride  through  groves  and  parks  of  it  that  are 
indescribably  beautiful.  That  fascinating  parasite 
of  British  classics,  the  mistletoe,  appears  also,  and 
shrouds  the  branches  of  the  oak  with  its  rich,  ten 
der  green,  and  feeds  on  its  rugged  life.  Many  an 
oak  had  succumbed  to  the  greedy  bunch  boughs  of 
the  mistletoe,  that  fastened  themselves  upon  it,  and 
despite  its  beauty  and  the  sentimental  reputation  it 
brings  to  us  from  British  poets,  I  came  to  shrink 
from  its  touch  and  sight.  More  graceful  and  invit 
ing  and  less  absorbing  of  life, — rather  token  of 
death, — was  the  pendant  Spanish  moss,  hanging 
gray  and  sere  and  sad  from  the  pine  branches  and 
trunks,  along  our  way  in  southern  Oregon. 

The  birch,  the  ash,  the  spruce,  the  arbor  vitae, 
and  the   balsam,  all   contribute   to   these  forests. 


1/6  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

But  they  do  not  rob  your  Connecticut  valley  of  its 
precious  elms ;  to  their  individual  beauty  no  tree 
here  can  offer  successful  rivalry.  In  aggregates, 
however,  for  forests  of  trees,  for  size  and  beauty  of 
pines  and  spruces  and  firs,  for  amount  and  quality 
of  timber  as  timber,  and  for  groves  of  oaks,  there 
can  be  no  competition  in  the  East  to  the  Sierra 
Nevadas  and  the  Coast  Mountains  and  their  inter 
mediate  valleys  in  California  and  Oregon.  They 
become  the  perpetual  wonder  and  admiration  and 
enthusiasm  of  the  traveler. 

The  cross  valleys  of  the  Rogue  and  Umpqua 
rivers  present  many  rich  fields  for  culture.  The 
soil  is  a  gravelly  loam,  warm  and  fertile,  and  more 
favorable  for  fruits,  especially  the  grape  and  the 
peach,  than  the  more  northern  valleys  of  Oregon. 
But  the  way  to  market  is  long  and  hard ;  and  the 
products  of  agriculture  here  must  mainly  go  out  to 
the  world  on  the  hoof  or  in  wool.  So  that  the 
temptation  to  the  farmer  is  not  yet  very  strong. 
Yet  we  found  a  few  rich  farms  and  prosperous  gen 
tleman  farmers.  "Joe"  Lane,  famous  in  Oregon 
politics,  lives  in  one  of  these  valleys ;  his  occupa 
tion  of  public  life  is  gone ;  he.  fell  out  with  a  por 
tion  of  his  own  party,  and  was  put  out  by  the  up 
rising  volume  of  loyal  and  anti-slavery  sentiment, 
wherein  he  has  never  shown  any  sympathy.  He 
was  an  able  but  low,  coarse  and  groveling  politi 
cian. 

A  man  of  another  description  and  history  is  Mr. 
Jesse  Applegate,  whose  fame  as  an  old  pioneer, 
an  honest,  intelligent  gentleman,  incorruptible  in 


JESSE  APPLEGATE,  A  PIONEER. 

thought  and  act,  and  the  maker  of  good  cider,  kept 
increasing  as  we  neared  his  home  in  the  Umpqua ; 
and  we  made  bold  to  stop  and  tell  him  we  had  come 
to  see  him  and  eat  our  breakfast  out  of  his  larder. 
We  did  all  to  our  supreme  satisfaction,  finding  a 
vigorous  old  man,  who  had  been  here  twenty-five 
years,  participated  largely  in  the  growth  and  history 
of  the  country,  and  the  conversion  of  its  people  to 
right  political  principles ;  clear  and  strong  and 
original  in  thought  and  its  expression,  with  views 
upon  our  public  affairs  worthy  the  heed  of  our 
wisest ;  every  way,  indeed,  such  a  man  as  you  won 
der  to  find  here  in  the  woods,  rejoice  to  find  any 
where,  and  hunger  to  have  in  his  rightful  position, 
conspicuous  in  the  government.  Oregon  ought 
surely  to  send  Jesse  Applegate  to  Washington,  and 
the  general  testimony  is  that  she  would,  were  he 
not  so  implacably  hostile  to  all  the  helping  arts  of 
politician  and  place-seeker,  which  is  of  course  only 
another  reason  why  she  should  do  what  she  yet 
does  not.  *  Mr.  Applegate  has  sent  his  three  sons 
to  the  war,  and  remains  in  their  place  to  carry  on 
his  farm  of  two  thousand  acres.  But  farming  here, 
he  says,  is  but  a  cheap,  careless  process  ;  labor  is  so 
dear,  and  grain  grows  so  easily,  and  the  market  is 
so  distant,  that  there  is  no  incentive  for  real  culti 
vation  and  care,  in  the  business.  Grass  grows  nat 
urally,  abundantly ;  timothy  seed  thrown  upon  the 
unbroken  soil,  gives  the  best  of  permanent  mowing ; 
and  so  mild  are  the  winters,  and  so  abundant  the 
feed  upon  hill  and  plain,  that  even  that  is  only  im 
proved  as  a  precaution  against  exceptional  snow. 

8*  12 


1/8  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Though  he  feeds  cattle  by  the  hundreds  and  thou 
sands,  he  has  now  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
tons  of  hay  that  he  cut  two  years  ago,  but  for  which 
he  has  had  no  use. 

Two  days  and  a  night  of -rough  riding  from  Jack 
sonville  over  rather  unmilitary  roads,  built  some 
years  ago  by  the  since  famous  General  Hooker, 
brought  us  out,  of  a  sweet,  June-like  afternoon, 
upon  the  hill  that  overlooks  the  head  of  the  Wil 
lamette  (Wil-/^7«-ette)  Valley.  Here  the  mountain 
ranges  cease  their  mazy  dancing  together,  and  take 
their  places  east  and  west,  feeding  a  river  that  runs 
midway  north  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  to 
the  Columbia  River,  and  watering  a-valley  through 
that  length  and  for  fifty  miles  wide.  This  is  the 
Willamette  River  and  valley, — the  garden  of  Ore 
gon, — itself  Oregon ;  that  which  led  emigrants 
here  years  before  the  gold  discoveries  on  the  Pa 
cific  Coast ;  the  holder  of  nearly  two-thirds  of  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  State ;  the  chief  source  of  its 
present  strength  and  prosperity,  and  its  sure  secu 
rity  for  the  future  ;  lifting  it  above  the  uncertainties 
of  mining,  and  giving  guaranty  of  stability,  intelli 
gence  and  comfort  to  its  people. 

We  were  led  down  into  this  indeed  paradisiacal 
valley  through  richest  groves  of  oak  ;  the  same  are 
scattered  along  the  foot  hills  on  either  side,  or  peo 
ple  the  swelling  hills  that  occasionally  vary  the 
prairie  surface  of  its  central  lines ;  while  the  river, 
strong  and  free  and  navigable  through  the  whole 
valley  a  part  of  the  year,  and  through  the  lower 
half  at  all  times,  furnishes  a  deep  belt  of  forest 


THE  -WILLAMETTE    VALLEY. 

through  the  very  middle  of  the  valley.  Never  be- 
Jield  I  more  fascinating  theater  for  rural  homes; 
never  seemed  more  fitly  united  natural  beauty  and 
practical  comforts ;  fertility  of  soil  and  variety  of 
surface  and  production  ;  never  were  my  bucolic  in 
stincts  more  deeply  stirred  than  in  !his  first  outlook 
upon  the,  Willamette  valley.  The  soil  is  a  strong, 
clayey,  vegetable  loam,  on  a  hardpan  bottom,  hold 
ing  manures  firmly,  and  yielding  large  crops  of  the 
small  grains,  apples  and  potatoes.  Wheat  and  ap 
ples  are  the  two  great  crops  at  present;  much  of 
the  improved  land  being  set  out  with  apple  or 
chards,  that  come  into  full  bearing  in  from  two  to 
three  years  after  planting.  Wool  and  beef  are, 
also,  as  in  the  lower  valleys,  leading  items  in  the 
agricultural  wealth  of  the  Willamette.  The  hills 
and  valleys  of  interior  Oregon  furnish  almost  in 
exhaustible  and  continuous  pasture  grounds.  The 
spring  is  too  cold  and  wet  for  peaches  ;  the  summer 
nights  are  too  cold  for  corn,  though  it  is  grown  to 
a  limited  degree ;  but  Isabella  and  Catawba  grapes 
ripen  perfectly  ;  it  is  the  home  of  the  cherry ;  and 
pears,  plums  and  all  the  small  berries  reach  high 
perfection.  The  average  yield  of  wheat  in  the  val 
ley  is  twenty-five  bushels  to  the  acre ;  but  fifty  is 
often  obtained  with  careful  cultivation. 

Though  this  valley  supports  a  population  of  fifty 
thousand  by  agriculture  only,  probably  not  one- 
tenth  of  its  area  ha*s  yet  felt  the  plow,  and  certainly 
not  over  one-half  is  under  fence.  Its  best  lands 
can  be  bought  for  from  five  to  twenty-five  dollars 
an  acre,  depending  upon  improvements,  and  near- 


180  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

ness  to  villages  and  river.  Only  specially  favored 
farms  go  higher,  as  some  do  to  fifty  and  even  one 
hundred  dollars  an  acre.  Much  of  the  farming  is 
unwisely  done ;  the  farms  are  generally  too  large, 
the  original  locations  being  mostly  of  six  hundred 
and  forty  acres  each  ;  and  the  agricultural  popula 
tion  are  largely  !Missourians,  Kentuckians  and  Ten- 
nesseeans,  of  that  class  who  are  forever  moving 
farther  west,  and  only  stop  here  because  there  is 
no  beyond  but  the  ocean.  The  eastern  men  proper 
in  Oregon,  of  whom  there  are  indeed  many,  are 
mostly  in  the  villages  and  towns,  leaders  in  trade, 
and  commerce,  and  manufactures,  as  well  as  in  the 
professions. 

The  agriculture  of  Oregon  knows  no  such  draw 
back  and  doubt  as  the  long  summer  drouths,'  that 
hang  over  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the  country  west 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  render  expensive 
irrigation  a  necessity  to  certainty  in  culture.  Her 
fertile  region, — so  made  fertile,  indeed, — between 
the  Coast  Mountains  and  the  Sierras,  or  the  Cas 
cades,  as  the  interior  range  of  mountains  is  called 
in  Oregon,  is  abundantly  supplied  with  rain  the 
year  round.  There  is  enough  in  summer  to  ripen 
the  crops,  and  not  top  much  to  interfere  with  har 
vesting;  and  the  winter  is  one  long  shower  oi 
six  months.  The  Californians  call  their  northern 
neighbors  the  Web  Feet ;  and  from  all  account  there 
is  something  too  much  of  rain  an4  mud  during  the 
winter  season ;  but  the  fertility  and  perfection 
which  its  agriculture  enjoys  in  consequence  leave 
the  practical  side  of  the  joke  with  the  Oregonians. 


THE  TOWNS  OF  THE  WILLAMETTE  VALLEY.     l8l 

There  is  no  snow  in  the  valleys  of  middle  and 
western  Oregon;  only  rain  and  mist  deaden  the 
dormant  season  ;  but  February  is  usually  a  clear 
and  warm  month,  and  the  work  of  the  farmer  then 
actively  begins.  The  summers  are  long  and  favor 
able,  with  warm  days  but  cool  nights, — more  en 
durable  for  the  human  system  than  New  England 
summers,  and  kinder  for  all  vegetation,  with  the 
single  exception,  perhaps,  of  Indian  corn.  The 
average  temperature  of  the  Willamette  valley  for 
the  six  summer  months  is  from  sixty-five  to  sev 
enty,  and  of  the  six  winter  months  from  forty  to 
forty-five  degrees.  And  grass  grows  through  all 
the  so-called  winter. 

Eugene  City,  Corvallis,  Albany,  Salem,  Oregon 
City  and  Portland  are  the  chief  centers  of  popula 
tion  in  the  Willamette  valley,  in  the  order  in  which 
we  passed  them,  coming  down  to  the  Columbia.  Sa 
lem  is  the  State  capital,  and  is  a  beautifully  located, 
thriving,  inland  town.  Here  our  party  had  a  state 
reception ;  here  I  met  our  old  democratic  brother 
editor  of  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Asahel 
Bush,  who  has  made  a  fortune  here,  and  wielded 
large  power  in  the  politics  of  the  State,  dethroning 
on  the  Douglas  breach  Joe  Lane  as  senator,  but 
failing  to  keep  progressing  in  the  right  direction,  is 
now  himself  dethroned  by  the  Union  and  republican 
possession  of  the  State,  and  is  in  retirement  from 
newspaper  and  business,  and  meditating  eastern 
migration?  here,  too,  Mr.  Reuben  Boies,  of  Bland- 
ford  origin  and  Chicopee  residence,  has  grown 
into  just  distinction,  and  is  one  of  the  supreme 


1 82  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT, 

judges  of  the  State,  but  has  his  present  residence 
on  a  beautiful  farm  in  one  of  the  neighboring  foot 
hills,  where  also  he  has  erected  and  put  in  success 
ful  operation  a  woolen  mill ; — and  from  here,  also, 
we  took  steamboat  passage,  fifty  miles,  to  this  town, 
the  commercial  and  business  center  of  the  State, 
half  rival  to  San  Francisco  itself,  and  the  only  other 
town,  indeed,  of  prominence  on  the  Pacific  Coast, 
that  shows  signs  of  steady,  uninterrupted  prosper 
ity  at  this  moment.  At  Oregon  City,  on  our  way 
hither,  we  paid  respect  to  the  original  capital  of 
the  Territory,  inspected  a  new  and  extensive  woolen 
mill  that  cost  seventy-five  thousand  dollars  in  gold, 
and  were  railroaded  around  the  falls  of  the  Willam 
ette,  which,  though  not  a  brilliant  feature  in  the 
natural  scene,  offer  temptations  and  almost  inex 
haustible  water-power  for  the  manufactures  that 
the  agricultural  productions  of  the  State  invite,  and 
the  enterprise  of  its  citizens  is  already  wisely  and 
eagerly  reaching  forward  to. 

Portland,  by  far  the  largest  town  of  Oregon, 
stands  sweetly  on  the  banks  of  the  Willamette, 
twelve  miles  before  it  joins  the  Columbia  River, 
and  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  where  the 
Columbia  meets  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Ships  and  ocean 
steamers  of  highest  class  come  readily  hither ;  from 
it  spreads  out  a  wide  navigation  by  steamboat  of 
the  Columbia  and  its  branches,  below  and  above ; 
here  centers  a  large  and  increasing  trade,  not  only 
for  the  Willamette  valley,  but  for  the  mining  regions 
of  eastern  Oregon  and  Idaho,  Washington  Territory 
on  the  north,  and  parts  even  of  British  Columbia. 


PORTLAND  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.         183 

Even  Salt  Lake,  too,  has  taken  groceries  and  dry 
goods  through  this  channel,  and  may  yet  find  it  ad 
vantageous  to  buy  more  and  continuously ;  such  are 
the  attained  and  attainable  water  communications 
through  the  far-extending  Columbia. 

The  population  of  Portland  is  about  seven  thou 
sand  ;  they  keep  Sunday  as  we  do  in  New  England, 
and  as  no  other  population  this  side  of  the  Mis 
souri  now  does ;  and  real  estate,  as  you  may  infer, 
is  quite  high, — four  hundred  dollars  a  front  foot  for 
best  lots  one  hundred  feet  deep  on  the  main  busi 
ness  street,  without  the  buildings.  In  religion,  the 
Methodists  have  the  lead,  and  control  an  academic 
school  in  town  and  a  professed  State  university  at 
Salem ;  the  Presbyterians  are  next  with  a  beautiful 
church  and  the  most  fashionable  congregation,  and 
favor  a  struggling  university  under  Rev.  S.  H. 
Marsh,  (son  of  President  Marsh  of  the  Vermont 
university,)  located  twenty  miles  off  in  the  valley ; 
perhaps  the  Catholics  rank  third,  with  a  large  Sis 
ters  of  Charity  establishment  and  school  within  the 
city.  Governor  Gibbs,  the  present  chief  magistrate 
of  the  State,  resides  here,  and  though  a  lawyer,  owns 
and  runs  a  successful  iron  foundry  that  imports  its 
material  from  England,  though  undeveloped  iron 
mines  are  thick  in  neighboring  hills ; — a  single 
daily  paper  has  two  thousand  five  hundred  circula 
tion,  with  a  weekly  edition  of  three  thousand  more  ; 
and  altogether  Portland  has  the  air  and  the  fact  of 
a  prosperous,  energetic  town,  with  a  good  deal  of 
eastern  leadership  and  tone  to  business  and  society 
and  morals. 


LETTER    XVIII. 

THE    COLUMBIA    RIVER— ITS     SCENERY    AND    ITS 
COMMERCE. 

PORTLAND,  Oregon,  July  23. 

WHEN  an  enthusiastic  Oregonian  told  me  the 
Columbia  River  was  the  largest  of  the  Continent, 
and  watered  a  wider  section  of  country  than  any 
other,  I  thought  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mis 
sissippi,  and  smiled  with  mild  incredulity.  But 
unroll  your  map,  and  trace  its  course  into  the  heart 
of  this  north-western  interior,  through  the  Cascade 
Mountains,  back  into  the  great  basin  between  them 
and  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  then,  by  its  main 
branches,  stretching  up  north  and  winding  out 
through  all  British  Columbia,  and  south  and  west 
into  Idaho  and  over  into  the  bowels  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  touching  with  its  fingers  all  the  vast 
area  north  of  the  great  desert  basin  and  west  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains;  then  sail  with  me  up  and 
down  its  mile  and  a  half  wide  sweep  of  majestic 
volume,  at  the  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  above  its  mouth ;  see  what  steamboats  already 
navigate  its  waters,  and  the  points  to  which  they 
reach ;  and  listen  to  the  wide  plans  of  the  naviga- 


THE    SCENERY   OF   THE    COLUMBIA.  185 

tors  for  the  use  of  its  most  distant  upp'er  waters, 
in  British  Columbia  and  Idaho, — sapping  the  very 
vitals  of  British  dominion  in  the  North-west,  and 
practically  tapping  the  Pacific  railroad  as  it  comes 
west  at  Salt  Lake  for  the  benefit  of  Portland  and 
Oregon, — do  all  this,  and  we  will  make  our  bow  to 
gether  to  the  Oregonians  and  their  great  river. 

Only  more  full  surveys  can  determine  the  literal 
correctness  of  their  claims  to  superior  vastness  ;  the 
Columbia,  with  its  chief  division,  the  Snake,  may 
be  anywhere  from  twelve  hundred  to  two  thousand 
miles  in  length  ; — but  that  it  ranks  among  the  three 
or  four  great  rivers  of  the  world,  and  that  it  is  the 
key  to  vast  political  and  commercial  questions  and 
interests, — giving  to  its  line  the  elements  of  a  pow 
erful  rivalry  to  the  great  central  commercial  route 
of  our  Continent,  of  which  San  Francisco  is  the 
Pacific  terminus, — no  one  who  examines  its  posi 
tion  and  extent,  and  witnesses  the  various  capacity 
of  the  territory  it  waters,  can  for  a  moment  doubt. 

As  yet,  however,  the  Columbia  is  most  known 
abroad  for  the  rare  beauty  and  majesty  of  the 
scenery  developed  by  its  passage  through  the  great 
Andean  range  of  north-western  America.  Alone 
of  all  the  rivers  of  the  West  has  it  broken  these 
stern  barriers,  and  the  theater  of  the  conquering 
conflict  offers,  as  might  naturally  be  supposed,  many 
an  unusual  feature  of  nature.  River  and  rock  have 
striven  together,  wrestling  in  close  and  doubtful  em 
brace, — sometimes  one  gaining  ascendancy,  again 
the  other,  but  finally  the  subtler  and  more  seductive 
element  worrying  its  rival  out,  and  gaining  the 


1 86  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

western  sunshine,  broken  and  scarred  and  foaming 
with  hot  sweat,  but  proudly  victorious,  and  forcing 
the  withdrawing  arms  of  its  opponent  to  hold  up 
eternal  monuments  of  its  triumph. 

To  witness  these  scenes  has  been  the  main  pur 
pose  and  chief  pleasure  of  a  two  days'  excursion  up 
the  stream  from  Portland.  Starting  at  early  morn 
ing  on  a  steamboat  as  capacious  and  comfortable  as 
the  best  of  those  on  eastern  rivers,  and  with  a  com 
pany  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Oregon,  we  soon 
turned  out  of  the  Willamette  (twelve  miles),  and 
steamed  up  the  broad,  deep  current  of  the  Colum 
bia.  Near  at  hand  was  Vancouver,  a  famous  spot 
in  this  valley,  first  as  a  leading  station  of  the  Hud 
son  Bay  Company  for  many  years,  and  since  and 
now  as  the  chief  military  station  of  the  United 
States  in  the  interior  North-west.  Here  many  of 
our  prominent  military  men  have  served  appren 
ticeship, — Grant,  Hooker,  McClellan  and  Ingles 
among  them.  They  are  all  well  remembered  in 
the  days  of  their  captaincies  here  by  the  old  inhab 
itants.  Grant  was  the  same  quiet,  close-mouthed 
man  then  as  now,  but  gave  no  indication  of  that 
great  mastery  of  himself  and  of  others,  that  he  has 
within  these  few  years  so  nobly,  and  to  such  high 
purpose,  demonstrated.  It  was  while  here  that  he 
left  the  army  originally,  to  come  back  to  it  in  the 
hour  of  the  Nation's  need,  a  new  and  nobler  man. 
The  present  arrangement  of  the  quarters  and  offices 
of  the  post  was  made  under  Colonel  Ingles'  admin 
istration,  and  is  both  generous  and  tasteful.  It  is 
evidently  both  a  favorite  and  comfortable  military 


THE  CASCADES  AND  THE  DALLES.      l8/ 

pos.,  and  continues  to  be,  as  it  long  has  been,  one 
of  the  "soft  places"  in  the  army  on  this  Coast. 

Fifty  miles  of  steaming  up  through  heavily  wood 
ed  banks  brought  us  to  the  foot-hills  of  the  Cascade 
Mountains,  and  soon  we  were  upon  the  charmed 
ground.  High  walls  of  basaltic  rock  rose  slowly 
on  either  side;  huge  boulders,  thrown  off  in  the 
convulsion  of  water  with  mountain,  lie  lower  down 
the  valley,  or  stand  out  in  the  stream, — one  so  large, 
rising  in  rough  egg  shape  some  thousand  feet  up 
into  the  air,  as  to  become  a  conspicuous  and  memo 
rable  element  in  the  landscape.  The  river  gets  too 
fast  here,  at  the  Cascades,  as  they  are  called,  for 
farther  progress  by  boat;  we  change  to  a  railway 
of  five  miles,  along  rock  and  river,  at  the  end  of 
which  we  come  to  navigable  waters  again,  and  find, 
to  our  surprise,  another  large,  and  equally  luxurious 
steamer.  During  these  five  miles  of  the  Cascades, 
the  river  makes  a  descent  of  forty  feet,  half  of  it 
in  one  mile,  but  it  takes  the  form  of  rough  and 
rocky  rapids,  and  not  of  one  distinct,  measurable 
fall.  The  second  boat  took  us  from  the  Upper  Cas 
cades  to  the  Dalles,  forty-five  miles,  all  the  way 
through  the  mountains.  The  waters  narrow  and 
run  swift  and  harsh ;  the  rocks  grow  higher  and 
sharper ;  and  their  architecture,  by  fire  and  water, 
assumes  noble  and  massive  forms.  The  dark,  ba 
saltic  stones  lie  along  in  even  layers,  seamed  as  in 
the  walls  of  human  structure ;  then  they  change  to 
upright  form,  and  run  up  in  well-rounded  columns, 
one  after  another,  one  above  another.  Often  is 
rich  similitude  to  ruined  castles  of  the  Rhine; 


1 88  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

more  frequently,  fashions  and  forms,  too  massive, 
too  majestic,  too  unique  for  human  ambition  and 
art  to  aspire  to.  Where  the  clear  rock  retires, 
and  sloping  sides  invite,  verdure  springs  strong, 
and  forests,  as  thick  and  high  as  in  the  valleys,  fill 
the  landscape. 

At  the  Dalles  lies  the  second  town  in  Oregon, 
bearing  the  name  of  The  Dalles,  and  holding  a 
population  of  twenty-five  hundred.  It  is  the  en 
trepot  for  the  scattered  mines  in  eastern  Oregon,  for 
we  are  now  on  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  mountains, 
and  very  much  also  for  the  Boise  and  Owyhee  mines 
in  Idaho.  The  miners  come  in  here  to  winter,  send 
there  earnings  in  here,  and  buy  here  many  of  their 
supplies.  Two  millions  dollars  in  gold  dust  came 
in  here  from  eastern  Oregon  and  Idaho  in  the  sin 
gle  month  of  June  last.  The  town  is  ambitious  of 
that  unnecessary  adjunct,  a  mint,  and  the  Oregon 
politicians  have  even  wheedled  Congress  out  of  a 
preliminary  appropriation  for  one. 

The  Dalles  marks  another  interruption  to  the 
navigation  of  the  river,  and  another  railway  portage 
of  fifteen  miles  is  in  use.  The  entire  water  of  the 
Columbia  is  compressed  for  a  short  distance  into 
a  space  only  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  wide. 
Through  this  it  pours  with  a  rapidity  and  a  depth, 
that  give  majestic,  fearful  intensity  to  its  motion  ; 
while  interfering-  rocks  occasionally  throw  the 
stream  into  rich  masses  of  foam.  Through  these 
second  rapids  of  fifteen  miles,  the  rock  scenery  at 
first  rises  still  higher  and  sharper,  and  then  fast 
grows  tame;  the  mountains  begin  to  slink  away 


FUN    ON    THE    STEAMBOAT.  189 

and  to  lose  their  trees ;  the  familiar  barrenness»of 
the  great  interior  basin  reappears  ;  and  the  only 
beauty  of  the  hills  is  their  richly  rounded-  forms, 
often  repeated,  and  their  only  utility  pasturage  for 
sheep  and  horses  and  cattle.  The  fifteen  miles  of 
railway,  which,  with  the  lower  portage  of  five  miles, 
are  built  as  permanently,  and  served  as  thoroughly, 
with  the  best  of  locomotives  and  cars,  as  any  rail 
roads  in  the  country,  landed  us  on  still  another 
large  and  luxurious  steamboat, — "and  stiH  the  won 
der  grew," — built  way  up  here  beyond  the  moun 
tains,  but  with  every  appointment  of  comfort  and 
luxury  that  are  found  in  the  best  of  eastern  river 
craft, — large  state-rooms,  long  and  wide  cabins,  va 
rious  and  well-served  meals.  From  this  point  (Ce- 
lilo),  there  is  uninterrupted  navigation,  and  daily  or 
tri-weekly  steamers  running,  to  Umatilla,  eighty-five 
miles,  Wallula,  one  hundred  and  ten  miles,  and  to 
White  Bluffs,  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  farther 
up  the  stream.  For  six  months  in  the  year,  boats 
can  and  do  run  way  on  to  Lewiston,  on  the  Snake 
River  branch  of  the  Columbia,  which  is  two  hun 
dred  and  seventy  miles  beyond  Celilo,  or  five  hun 
dred  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  as 
White  Bluffs,  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  main 
river,  is  four  hundred  miles  from  the  mouth. 

We  spent  the  night  on  the  boat  at  Celilo,  and 
during  the  evening  the  most  of  the  party  went 
back  by  rail  to  The  Dalles  for  speeches  to  the  peo 
ple  from  Speaker  Colfax  and  Governor  Bross.  One 
of  the  best  bits  of  fun  on  our  journey  was  impro 
vised  on  their  return  late  in  the  night.  Those  who 


ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

had  remained  on  the  boat  suddenly  emerged  from 
their  state-rooms,  wrapped  in  the  drapery  in  which 
they  had  laid  themselves  down  to  sleep,  and  pro 
ceeded  to  give  formal  welcome  to  the  entering 
party.  Mr.  Richardson  addressed  the  Speaker  in 
an  amusing  travestie  of  some  familiar  points  in 
his  own  speeches.  Mr.  Colfax  seized  the  joke,  and 
replied  a  la  Richardson  with  equal  effectiveness. 
The  whole  scene  and  performance  was  picturesque 
and  amusing  in  the  highest  degree ;  and  the  cabin 
resounded  with  boisterous  laughter  from  all  sides. 

The  next  morning,  we  proceeded  thirty  or  forty 
miles  still  farther  up  the  river,  till  we  had  got  be 
yond  all  traces  of  the  collision  of  the  stream  with 
the  mountain,  and  the  scenery  grew  tame  and  com 
mon.  Then  we  turned  back,  having  reached  a 
point  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles  above  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  and  retraced  our  passage  through  the 
mountains,  renewing  our  worship  and  our  wonder 
before  the  strange  and  beautiful  effects  produced 
by  this  piercing  of  these  eternal  hills  by  this  ma 
jestic  river  of  the  West.  As  a  whole,  I  know  no 
like  scenery  so  grand,  so  beautiful.  It  has  much 
of  the  distinguishing  elements  of  the  Hudson  in 
its  Palisades,  of  the  Rhine  in  its  embattled,  precip 
itous  and  irregularly  shaped  sides,  and  of  the  Up.- 
per  Mississippi  in  its  overhanging  cliffs.  Each  of 
these  holds  a  beauty  that  is  not  here ;  but  the  Co 
lumbia  aggregates  more  than  any  one  the  elements 
of  impressiveness,  of  picturesque  majesty,  of  won 
der-working,  powerful  nature.  I  was  more  enthu 
siastic  over  each  of  those  rivers ;  I  saw  them  with 


MOUNT    HOOD.  IQI 

younger  and  less  weary  eyes;  but  this  convinces 
my  intellect  of  its  superiority.  There  is,  however, 
a  general  uniformity  in  its  characteristics ;  one  five 
miles  repeats  another ;  and  once  seen,  you  are  in 
different  as  to  a  second  sight, — before  next  year,  or 
unless  with  the  accompaniment  of  new  and  be 
loved  eyes. 

A  distinguishing  feature  in  the  landscape  of  this 
ride  up  the  Columbia, — apart  from  it,  yet  bounding 
it,  shadowing  it,  yet  enkindling  it  with  highest 
majesty  and  beauty, — is  Mount  Hood.  This  is  tlie 
great  snow  peak  of  Oregon,  its  Shasta,  its  Rainier, 
its  Mount  Blanc.  Lying  off  twenty  or  thirty  miles 
south  of  the  river,  in  its  passage  through  the  moun 
tains,  it  towers  high  above  all  its  fellows,  and  is 
seen,  now  through  their  gorges,  and  again  at  the 
end  of  apparent  long  plains,  leading  up  to  it  from 
the  river.  Most  magnificent  views  of  it  are  ob 
tained  through  nearly  all  the  sail  up  and  down  from 
Portland.  That  which  Bierstadt  has  chosen  for  its 
perpetuation  on  canvas,  and  which  is  thus  familiar 
to  eastern  eyes,  is  the  most  complete  and  impress 
ive,  and  is  recognized  upon  the  steamboat.  In  it, 
,the  mountain  seems  to  rise,  apart,  out  from  an  up 
ward-going  plain,  snow-covered  from  base  to  sum-  ' 
mit,  oppressive  in  its  majesty,  beautiful  in  form, 
angelic  in  its  whiteness, — the  union  of  all  that  is 
great  and  pure  and  impressive.  Various  hights  are 
claimed  for  Hood,  from  twelve  thousand  to  eighteen 
thousand  five  hundred  feet ;  but  it  is  not  at  all  likely 
that  it  exceeds  twelve  thousand  or  thirteen  thou 
sand  feet,  or  less  than  Shasta  in  northern  California, 


IQ2  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

and  less,  also,  than  Rainier  and  Aams  in  Washing 
ton  Territory. 

There  is  some  rivalry  among  the  neighbors  of 
these  great  snow  peaks  of  the  north-western  United 
States  as  to  which  is  the  highest.  There  are  four 
or  five  of  them  from  eleven  thousand  to  fifteen  thou 
sand  feet  each,  and  the  last  one  the  traveler  beholds 
seems  to  him  not  only  the  highest  but  the  most 
beautiful,  so  engrossing  is  the  view.  But  the  most 
reliable  measurements  give  Shasta  the  palm  at  four- 
tee'n  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty  feet,  and,  until 
within  a  year,  made  it  the  highest  mountain  peak 
in  the  United  States.  Last  season,  however,  the 
explorations  of  the  California  Geological  Survey 
brought  to  knowledge  a  series  of  rare  snow-cov 
ered  and  granite  peaks,  among  the  Sierra  Nevadas 
in  southern  California  and  Nevada,  one  or  two  of 
which,  at  least,  mount  higher  than  Shasta,  and,  for 
the  present  at  least,  may  claim  to  be  the  highest 
land  in  the  Nation.  One  of  these  peaks  was  called 
Mount  Tyndall,  and  is  about  fourteen  thousand  five 
hundred  feet  high ;  and  another,  the  very  highest, 
is  named  Mount  Whitney  for  the  head  of  the  Ge 
ological  Survey  of  California,  and  is  at  least  fifteen 
thousand  feet  high. 

But  no  mountain  peak  we  have  yet  passed  in  our « 
journey  is  seen  to  so  fine  advantage  as  Mount  Hood 
from  the  Columbia  River, — it  is  hard  to  imagine  a 
more  magnificent  snow  mountain ;  and  adding  this 
crowning  element  to  the  scenery  of  the  Columbia 
River,  it  is  probably  just  to  say  of  it,  that  this  ex 
cursion  offers  more  of  natural  beauty  and  wonder 


THE  OREGON  STEAM  NAVIGATION  COMPANY.    1 93 

to  interest  and  excite  the  traveler,  than  any  other 
single  journey  or  scene  which  the  Pacific  Coast 
presents,  except  the  Yosemite  valley.  That  must, 
of  course,  stand  first,  unrivaled  and  unapproachable. 
But  to  this  I  give  the  second  place. 

The  navigation  of  the  Columbia  River  is  now  in 
the  hands  of  a  strong  and  energetic  company,  that 
not  only  hav,e  the  capacity  to  improve  all  its  present 
opportunities,  but  the  foresight  to  seek  out  and  cre 
ate  new  ones.  They  are,  indeed,  making  new  paths 
in  the  wilderness,  and  show  more  comprehension 
of  the  situation  and  purpose  to  develop  it  than  any 
set  of  men  I  have  yet?  met  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 
Organized  in  1861,  with  property  worth  one  hun 
dred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  they  have 
now,  with  eighteen  or  twenty  first  class  steamboats, 
the  two  railroads  around  the  Cascades  and  The 
Dalles,  and  their  appointments,  warehouses  at  all 
the  principal  towns  on  the  river,  including  one  nine 
hundred  and  thirty-five  feet  long  at  Cellilo,  and  real 
estate  in  preparation  for  future  growth,  a  total  prop 
erty  of  rising  two  millions  dollars,  all  earned  from 
their  business.  Besides  this  great  increase  of 
wealth  from  their  own  enterprise,  they  have  paid 
to  themselves  in  dividends  three  hundred  and 
thirty-two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dol 
lars.  With  wagon  roads  from  The  Dalles,  from  Um- 
atilla,  and  from  Wallula,  the  river  and  their  boats 
have  formed  and  still  form  the  cheapest  and  quick 
est  route  for  travel  or  freight  from  all  parts  of  the 
Coast  to  the  rich  mines  of  Boise  and  Owyhee  in 
Idaho,  as  well  as  to  those  in  eastern  Oregon.  Boise 
9  13 


194  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

City  is  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles  from  Umatilla 
and  Owyhee  two  hundred  and  ninety  miles.  The 
roads  from  the  other  points  are  longer  and  poorer. 
So  large  have  been  the  travel  and  trade  in  this  di 
rection  in  the  last  few  years,  that  the  Oregon  steam 
navigation  company  has  carried  to  the  Upper  Co 
lumbia  sixty  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty 
tons  in  the  last  four  years,  beginning  with  six  thou 
sand  tons  in  1862  and  rising  to  nearly  twenty-two 
thousand  tons  in  1864.  In  the  same  time,  their 
boats  have  carried  up  and  down  on  the  river  nearly 
one  hundred  thousand  passengers,  increasing  from 
ten  thousand  in  1861  to  thirty-six  thousand  in  1864. 
California  has  at  last  aroused  to  the  importance 
of  securing  this  trade,  if  possible,  for  herself,  and  is 
opening  shorter  wagon  routes  to  Idaho  by  way  of 
Chico  and  Red  Bluffs  in  the  upper  Sacramento  val 
ley,  and  through  Nevada  by  the  Humboldt  valley ; 
but  the  Oregon  people  are  still  likely  to  keep  the 
larger  share  of  the  traffic,  for  their  route,  though 
longer,  is  very  much  by  water,  and  so  cheaper,  safer 
and  pleasanter.  The  Oregon  navigation  company 
are  also  busy  with  plans  for  improving  their  own 
route.  By  opening  a  road  one  hundred  and  ten 
miles  long,  across  a  wide  bend  of  unnavigable 
sections  of  the  Snake  River,  from  Wallula  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Powder  River,  they  will  again  find 
the  Snake  River  navigable  for  one  hundred  and 
fifty  to  two  hundred  miles  farther  up  its  course, 
or  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Owyhee  and  Boise 
gold  basins,  and  on  beyond  towards  Utah.  Then 
from  this  new  head  of  navigation  on  the  Snake 


OREGON'S  PACIFIC  RAILROAD  CUT-OFF.      195 

River,  to  Salt  Lake,  is  but  one  hundred  or  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  more ;  so  that  with  wagon 
roads  of  less  than  three  hundred  miles,  steam  navi 
gation  may  soon  be  secured  all  the  way  from  Salt 
Lake  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  in  Oregon.  Substitute 
for  these  wagon  roads  a  railway,  or,  leaving  out  the 
navigation  of  the  upper  Snake,-and  building  a  rail 
road  five  hundred  and  fifty  miles  across  from  Salt 
Lake  through  the  gold  regions  of  Idaho  to  Wallula, 
whence  is  uninterrupted  navigation  down  the  Co 
lumbia,  and  the  Pacific  Coast  is  reached  by  steam 
through  Oregon  with  less  than  two-thirds  the  rail 
road  building  required  for  the  central  route  into 
San  Francisco.  The  line  for  this  suggested  road 
is  easy,  crossing  the  Blue  Mountains  in  eastern 
Oregon  by  a  very  favorable  pass,  and  avoiding  by 
the  Columbia  River  the  great  work  of  surmounting 
the  Sierra  Nevadas.  These  are  important,  preg 
nant  suggestions.  The  Oregon  navigation  com 
pany  is  impressed  with  their  significance,  and  will 
next  spring  construct  a  steamboat  on  the  upper 
Snake  for  testing  the  practicability  of  that  point 
in  the  programme.  They  mean  at  least  to  hold 
their  superiority  in  the  commerce  of  Idaho,  and  if 
the  Central  Pacific  railway  interest  does  not  push 
on  its  work  with  alacrity,  the  despised  Oregonians 
may  yet  show  their  heels  to  their  California  neigh 
bors  in  the  matter  of  the  quickest  and  cheapest 
route  for  travel  and  freight  from  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  to  the  Coast. 

So  at  the  North,  into  the  heart  of  British  Colum 
bia,  the  Oregon  steamboat  company  are  working 


1^  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

out  a  notable  plan  for  extending  their  operations. 
By  building  a  wagon  portage  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  north  from  White  Bluffs,  the  present 
head  of  navigation  on  the  main  stream  of  the  Co 
lumbia,  cutting  off  a  wide  and  impassable  angle  of 
the  river,  the  stream  is  again  struck  at  a  navigable 
point  close  to  the  forty-ninth  parallel,  and  steamers 
can  be  run  from  there  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two 
hundred  miles  north  through  the  series  of  lakes 
into  which  the  river  widens  in  that  region,  away  up 
to  the  fifty-second  and  fifty-third  parallels,  where 
steamboats  were  never  heard  of  or  thought  of,  and 
into  the  now  most  famous  gold  region  of  British 
Columbia,  the  Carriboo  country.  The  steamboat 
company  are  already  building  a  steamer  in  this 
double  upper  Columbia,  and  next  season  will  prob 
ably  be  enabled  to  inaugurate  this  capital  idea  and 
illustration  of  their  enterprise.  Now  the  Carriboo 
mines  are  only  reached  by  way  of  Victoria,  Frazer 
River,  and  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  miles  of. 
rough  land  travel.  This  new  route  will  bring  them 
into  quick  and  cheap  communication  with  American 
markets  and  American  impulses  at  Portland. 

In  this  and  other  ways,  Oregon  and  its  people 
make  a  pleasant  and  promising  impression  upon 
us.  They  lack  many  of  the  advantages  of  their 
neighbors  below;  their  agriculture  is  less  varied, 
but  it  is  more  sure;  mining  has  not  poured  such 
irregular  and  intoxicating  wealth  into  their  laps; 
they  need,  as  well,  a  more  thorough  farming  and  a 
more  varied  industry ;  they  need,  also,  as  well,  in 
telligent,  patient  labor  and  larger  capital ;  but  they 


OREGON,  PRESENT   AND    PROSPECTIVE,          IQ/ 

have  builded  what  they  have  got  more  slowly  and 
more  wisely  than  the  Californians ;  they  have  less 
severe  reaction  from  hot  and  unhealthy  growth  to 
encounter, — less  to  unlearn ;  and  they  seem  sure, 
not  of  organizing  the  first  State  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  indeed,  but  of  a  steadily  prosperous,  healthy 
and  moral  one, — they  are  in  the  way  to  be  the  New 
England  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  Just  now,  new  and 
exciting  discoveries  of  placer  gold  have  been  made 
among  the  head  waters  of  the  John  Day  branch  of 
the  Columbia  River,  in  south-eastern  Oregon,  and 
extensive  improvements  are  being  developed  among 
the  quartz  mines  of  the  western  slopes  of  the  Sierra 
Nevadas,  just  off  from  the  Willamette  valley;  and 
capital  and  labor  are  hastening  in  both  directions : 
but  -while  there  is  much  to  hope  from  these  promises 
and  investments,  there  is  also  something  to  fear  for 
the  real  growth  of  the  State.  The  uncertainty,  the 
recklessness,  the  gambling  habit  which  the  varied 
and  fickle  results  of  gold  mining  throw  over  the 
whole  business  and  morals  and  manners  of  a  com 
munity,  that  is  possessed  by  the  passion,  are  very 
great  obstacles  to  a  real  and  permanent  prosperity, 
and  growth  in  high  civilization.  May  Oregon  steady 
itself,  or  be  steadied  by  sufficiently  early  failure, 
against  such  dangers  as  California's  experience  has 
thrown  around  her  condition  as  a  State. 


LETTER    XIX. 

THROUGH    WASHINGTON    TERRITORY. 


OLYMPIA,  W.  T.,  July  26. 

UNLESS  you  have  been  studying  geography 
lately,  you  will  need  to  open  your  map  to  follow 
us  in  our  journey  northward.  So  near  the  north 
western  limit  of  the  Republic  and  not  to  touch  it ; 
so  close  to  John  Bull  and  not  to  shake  his  grim 
paw,  and  ask  him  what  he  thinks  of  the  preposter 
ous  Yankees  now ;  so  near  to  that  rarely  beautiful 
sheet  of  water,  Puget  Sound,  and  not  to  sail  -through 
it,  and  know  its  commercial  capacities  and  feel  its 
natural  attractions, — it  would  never  do.  So,  two 
days  ago,  we  put  out  of  Portland,  steamed  down 
the  Columbia  for  fifty  miles,  and  up  its  Cowlitz 
branch  for  two  miles  (all  it  is  now  navigable),  and 
landed  on  the  Washington  Territory  side  at  two 
houses  and  a  stage  wagon,  bearing  the  classic  name 
of  Monticello.  Jefferson  was  not  at  home ;  but 
there  was  a  good  dinner  with  Mr.  Burbank,  scion 
of  your  northern  Berkshire  Burbanks;  testifying, 
like  all  the  rest  of  these  border  settlers,  away  from 
schools  and  churches  and  society,  that  there  was  no 
such  other  country  anywhere,  and  that  you  could 


THE  FORESTS  OF  WASHINGTON  TERRITORY.    199 

not  drive  them  back  to  the  snows  .and  cold  winters 
of  "  the  States." 

The  next  question  was,  how  to  put  eleven  passen 
gers  in  an  open  wagon  that  only  held  seven,  for  a 
ninety-mile  and  two-day  drive  across  the  Territory. 
It  was  successfully  achieved  by  putting  three  of 
them  on  saddle  horses ;  and  off  we  bounced  into 
the  woods  at  the  rate  of  three  to  four  miles  an  hour. 
Most  unpoetical  rounding  to  our  three  thousand 
miles  of  staging  in  these  ten  weeks  of  travel,  was 
this  ride  through  Washington.  The  road  was 
rough  beyond  description ;  during  the  winter  rains 
it  is  just  impassable,  and  is  abandoned ;  for  miles  it 
is  over  trees  and  sticks  laid  down  roughly  in 
swamps;  and  for  the  rest, — ungraded,  and  simply 
a  path  cut  through  the  dense  forest, — the  hight  and 
depth  are  fully  equal  to  the  length  of  it.  Those 
who  worked  their  passage,  by  whipping  lazy  mules 
whose  backs  they  strode,  and  paid  twenty  dollars 
for  the  privilege,  made  the  best  time,  and  had  the 
laziest  of  it.  Yet  since,  I  observe,  with  tender 
memories  of  hard  saddles,  they  "stand  and  wait," 
instead  of  sitting  upon  wooden  chairs. 

But  the  majestic  beauty  of  the  fir  and  cedar  for 
ests,  through  which  we  rode  almost  continuously 
for  the  day  and  a  half  that  the  road  stretched  out, 
was  compensation  for  much  discomfort.  These 
are  the  finest  forests  we  have  yet  met, — the  trees 
larger  and  taller  and  standing  thicker ;  so  thick  and 
tall  that  the  ground  they  occupy  could  not  hold 
them  cut  and  corded  as  wood ;  and  the  under 
growth  of  shrub  and  flower  and  vine  and  fern,  al- 


20O  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

most  tropical  in  its  luxuriance  and  impenetrable 
for  its  closeness.  Washington  Territory  must  have 
more  timber  and  ferns  and  blackberries  and  snakes 
to  the  square  mile  than  any  other  State  or  Territory 
of  the  Union.  We  occasionally  struck  a  narrow 
prairie  or  a  thread-like  valley ;  perhaps  once  in  ten 
miles  a  clearing  of  an  acre  or  two,  rugged  and  rough 
in  its  half-redemption  from  primitive  forest ;  but  for 
the  most  part  it  was  a  continuous  ride  through  for 
ests,  so  high  and  thick  that  the  sun  could  not  reach 
the  road,  so  unpeopled  and  untouched,  that  the 
very  spirit  of  Solitude  reigned  supreme,  and  made 
us  feel  its  presence  as  never  upon  Ocean  or  Plain. 
The  ferns  are  delicious,  little  and  big, — more  of 
them,  and  larger  than  you  can  see  in  New  Eng 
land, — and  spread  their  beautiful  shapes  on  every 
hand.  But  the  settlers  apply  to  them  other  adjec 
tives  beginning  with  d,  for  they  vindicate  their 
right  to  the  soil,  in  plain  as  well  as  forest,  with 
most  tenacious  obstinacy,  and  to  root  them  out  is 
a  long  and  difficult  job  for  the  farmer. 

We  dined  on  the  second  day  at  Skookem  Chuck 
(which  is  Indian  for  "big  water,")  and  came  to  the 
head  of  Puget  Sound,  which  kindly  shortens  the 
land-passage  across  the  Territory  one-half,  and  this 
town,  the  capital,  at  night,  encountering  the  usual 
demonstration  of  artillery,  brass  band  and  banners, 
and  most  hospitable  greeting  from  Acting-Governor 
Evans  and  other  officials  and  citizens.  Olympia  lies 
charmingly  under  the  hill  by  the  water-side  ;  counts 
its  inhabitants  less  than  five  hundred,  though  still 
the  largest  town  of  the  Territory,  save  the  mining 


THE  FOOD  OF  THE  PACIFIC.         2OI 

center  of  Wallula,  way  down  in  the  south-east  to 
wards  Idaho;  numbers  more  stumps  than  houses 
within  city  limits ;  but  is  the  social  and  political 
center  for  a  large  extent  of  country;  puts  on  the 
airs  and  holds  many  of  the  materials  of  fine  society ; 
and  entertained  us  at  a  very  Uncle  Jerry  and  Aunt 
Phebe  little  inn,  whose  presiding  genius,  a  fat  and 
fair  African  of  fifty  years  and  three  hundred  pounds, 
robed  in  spotless  white,  welcomed  us  with  the  grace 
and  dignity  of  a  queen,  and  fed  us  as  if  we  were  in 
training  for  a  cannibal's  table. 

If  there  is  one  thing,  indeed,  more  than  another, 
among  the  facts  of  civilization,  which  the  Pacific 
Coast  organizes  most  quickly  and  completely,  it  is 
good  eating.  From  the  Occidental  at  San  Fran 
cisco  to  the  loneliest  of  ranches  on  the  most  wilder 
ness  of  weekly  stage  routes,  a  "good  square  meal" 
is  the  rule ;  while  every  village  of  five  hundred  in 
habitants  has  its  restaurants  and  French  or  Italian 
cooks.  I  say  this  with  the  near  experience  and  the 
lively  recollection  of  one  or  two  most  illustrious  ex 
ceptions,  where  the  meals  consisted  of  coarse  bacon, 
ancient  beans  and  villainous  mustard, — and  where, 
if  you  declined  the  two  former,  you  were  politely 
requested  to  help  yourself  to  mustard, — and  where, 
o'  nights,  the  beds  could  e'en  rise  and  walk  with 
fleas  and  bedbugs.  When  the  Puritans  settled 
New  England,  their  first  public  duty  was  to  build 
a  church  with  thrifty  thought  for  their  souls.  Out 
here,  their  degenerate  sons  begin  with  organizing 
a  restaurant,  and  supplying  Hostitter's  stomachic 
bitters  and  an  European  or  Asiatic  cook.  So  the 


2O2  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

seat  of  empire,  in  its  travel  westward,  changes  its 
base  from  soul  to  stomach,  from  brains  to  bowels. 
Perhaps  it  is  only  in  obedience  to  that  delicate  law 
of  our  later  civilization,  which  forbids  us  to  enjoy 
our  religion  unless  we  have  already  enjoyed  our 
victual,  and  which  sends  a  dyspeptic  to  hell  by  an 
eternal  regard  to  the  fitness  of  things.  And  cer 
tainly  the  piety,  that  ascends  from  a  grateful  and 
gratified  stomach,  is  as  likely  to  be  worthy  as  that 
fitfully  fructified  by  Brandreth's  pills. 

Is  it  not  a  little  singular  that  only  our  forty- 
oddth  State  should  bear  the  name  of  WASHINGTON  ? 
That  it  was  left  to  this  day  and  to  this  cornermost 
Territory  to  enroll  his  name  among  the  stars  of 
the  Republic's  banner?  Washington  Territory  is 
the  upper  half  of  old  Oregon,  divided  by  the  Co 
lumbia  River  and  the  fortieth  parallel  for  the  south 
ern  boundary,  and  extending  up  to  the  forty-ninth, 
to  which,  under  the  reaction  from  the  unmartial 
Folk's  "fifty-four-forty  or  fight"  pretensions,,  our 
northern  line  was  ignominiously  limited  to.  Its 
population  is  small,  less  than  twenty  thousand,  and 
not  likely  to  grow  fast,  or  make  it  a  State  for  some 
years  to  come,  unless  the  chance,  not  probable,  of 
rich  gold  and  silver  mines  within  its  lines  should 
flood  it  with  rapid  immigration.  But  it  holds  sure 
wealth  and  a  large  future  through  its  certain  illim 
itable  forests  and  its  probable  immense  coal  depos 
its.  Of  all  its  surface,  west  of  the  Cascade  or  Si 
erra  Nevada  Mountains,  not  more  than  one-eighth 
is  prairie  or  open  land ;  the  rest  is  covered  by  a 
growth  of  timber,  such  as,  alike  in  density  and  in 


THE    SOIL    OF    WASHINGTON.  2OJ 

size,  no  other  like  space  on  the  earth's  surface  can 
boast  of.  Beyond  the  mountains  to  the  East,  the 
country  partakes  of  the  same  characteristics  as  that 
below  it;  hilly,  barren  of  trees,  unfruitful,  whose 
chief  promises  and  possibilities  are  in  the  cattle 
and  sheep  line.  Its  arable  land  this  side  the  moun 
tains,  where  the  forests  are  cleared  or  interrupted, 
is  less  fertile  than  that  of  Oregon  and  California; 
but  it  sufficeth  for  its  present  population,  and  even 
admits  of  considerable  exports  of  grain  and  meat 
for  the  mining  populations  in  British  Columbia,  and 
will  grow  in  extent  and  productiveness  probably  as 
fast  as  the  necessities  of  the  Territory  require. 


LETTER    XX. 

PUGET    SOUND,  AND    VANCOUVER'S    ISLAND. 


VICTORIA,  V.  L,  July  28. 

WE  were  a  full  day  and  night  coming  down  Puget 
Sound,  on  the  steamer  from  Olympia;  loitering 
along  at  the  villages  on  its  either  shone,  and  study 
ing  the  already  considerable  development  of  its 
lumber  interests,  as  well  as  regaling  ourselves  with 
the  beauty  of  its  waters  and  its  richly-stored  forest 
shores.  Only  the  upper  section  of  the  southern 
branch  of  these  grand  series  of  inland  seas  and 
rivers,  that  sweep  into  the  Continent  here,  and 
make  Vancouver's  Island,  and  open  up  a  vast  re 
gion  of  interior  country  to  the  ocean,  is  now  called 
Puget  Sound, — only  forty  miles  or  so  from  Olympia 
north.  Formerly  the  whole  confines  went  by  that 
name ;  and  rightfully  it  should  remain  to  all  which 
runs  up  into  Washington  Territory  from  out  the 
Strait  of  San  Juan  de  Fuca,  for  this  has  a  unity  and 
serves  a  similar  purpose.  For  beauty  and  for  use, 
this  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  water  wonders  of  the 
world ;  curiosity  and  commerce  will  give  it,  year  by 
year,  increase  of  fame  and  visitors.  It  narrows  to 
a  river's  width ;  it  circles  and  swoops  into  the  land 


PUGET  S   SOUND,  AND    ITS    LUMBER. 

with  coquettish  freedom;  and  then  it  widens  into 
miles  of  breadth ;  carrying  the  largest  of  ships  any 
where  on  its  surface,  even  close  to  the  forests'  edge ; 
free  of  rocks,  safe  from  wind  and  wave ; — the  home 
of  all  craft,  clear,  blue  and  fathomless. 

It  is  the  great  lumber  market  of  all  the  Pacific 
Coast.  Already  a  dozen  saw-mills  are  located  on  its 
shores  ;  one  which  we  visited  was  three  hundred  and 
thirty-six  feet  long,  and  turns  out  one  hundred  thou 
sand  feet  of  lumber  daily ;  three  ships  and  two  barks 
of  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  tons  each  were  load 
ing  with  the  product  direct  from  the  mill ;  and  the 
present  entire  export  of  the  "Sound,  in  prepared 
lumber  and  masts  and  spars,  reaches  nearly  to  one 
hundred  millions  of  feet  yearly,  and  yields  at  the 
average  price  of  ten  dollars  a  thousanp!  about  one 
million  dollars.  San  Francisco  is  the  largest  cus 
tomer;  but  the  Sandwich  Islands,  China,  all  the 
Pacific  American  ports,  south  and  north,  and  even 
Buenos  Ayres  around  on  the  Atlantic,  come  here 
for  building  materials,  and  France  finds  here  her 
cheapest  and  best  spars  and  masts.  Much  of  the 
shipping  employed  in  the  business  is  owned  on  the 
Sound;  one  mill  company  has  twelve  vessels  of 
from  three  hundred  to  one  thousand  tons  each. 
The  business  is  but  in  its  very  infancy;  it  will 
grow  with  the  growth  of  the  whole  Pacific  Coast, 
and  with  the  increasing  dearth  of  fine  ship  timber 
in  other  parts  of  the  world ;  for  it  is  impossible  to 
calculate  the  time  when,  cut  and  saw  as  we  may,  all 
these  forests  shall  be  used  up,  and  the  supply  be 
come  exhausted. 


2O6  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

The  size  of  these  Washington  Territory  trees  is 
rather  overpowering, — we  have  not  seen  the  big 
trees  of  California  yet, — and  not  daring  to  trust 
unaccustomed  eyes,  we  resorted  to  the  statistics  of 
the  lumbermen.  Trees,  six  and  seven  feet  in  diam 
eter,  and  two  hundred  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
high,  are  very  common,  perhaps  rarely  out  of  sight 
in  the  forest ;  eight  feet  in  diameter  and  three  hun 
dred  feet  high  are  rarer,  but  still  not  at  all  uncom 
mon  ; — the  builder  of  the  telegraph  line  has  hitched 
his  wire  in  one  case  to  a  cedar  (arbor  vitae)  which 
is  fourteen  feet  in  diameter;  a  monster  tree  that 
had  fallen,— the  forests  are  full  of  fallen  trees,— 
measured  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  long ; 
and  another  tree,  at  the  distance  of  ninety  feet  from 
its  root,  was  seven  feet  in  diameter!  Masts  for 
ships  are  readily  procurable,  straight  as  an  arrow, 
and  without  a  knot  for  one  hundred  feet,  and  forty 
inches  in  diameter  at  thirty 'feet  from  the  base.  I 
stop  my  figures  here,  lest  my  character  for  truthful 
reporting  grow  questionable. 

Out  of  the  Sound  and  straight  across  the  Strait, 
twenty  miles,  we  encounter  the  rocky  shore  of 
Vancouver's  Island ;  searching  along  we  meet  a 
hidden  hole  in  the  wall,  and,  steaming  in,  there 
opens  out  a  little  wash-bowl  of  a  bay ;  and  here  is 
Victoria.  It  is  a  charming  surprise, — the  prettiest 
located  and  best  built  town  on  the  Pacific  Coast, 
and  next  to  Portland  in  size  and  business, — a 
healthy  copartnership  of  American  enterprise  and 
enthusiasm,  and  English  solidity  and  holdfastness. 
The  population  ranges  from  twenty-five  hundred  in 


VICTORIA:   BRITISH  RULE.  207 

summer  and  dull  times  (now)  to  five  thousand  in 
winter  and  the  flush  season,  when  the  mining  across 
in  British  Columbia  pays  well,  and  the  miners  come 
to  town  to  spend  their  harvest.  Out  of  the  town 
and  its  trade,  the  island  offers  little  development; 
there  are  some  poor-paying  gold  mines  ;  good  bitu 
minous  coal  is  found  in  abundance,  and  profitably 
worked;  here  and  there  is  farming  in  patches, 
which  is  extending,  but  most  of  the  food  eaten 
here  comes  from  California  and  Washington.  The 
whole  white  population  of  the  island  is  no  more 
than  five  thousand  to  seven  thousand,  and  over 
these  reigns  the  cumbersome  and  expensive  ma 
chinery  of  an  especial  English  colonial  govern 
ment, — partly  appointed  by  the  crown,  partly  rep 
resentative, — with  a  parliament  that  sat  ten  months 
last  year ;  spending  four  hundred  thousand  dollars 
a  year,  and  raising  it  out  of  the  business  of  this 
town  by  a  system  of  taxation  many  times  more 
burdensome  than  our  civil  war  has  imposed  on 
our  people,— including^a  tax  on  all  sales,  besides 
special  licenses  for  each  particular  business,  and  an 
income  tax  on  top  of  all ;  but  giving  in  return  a 
-practically  good  government,  a  port  free  of  customs 
duties,  order  in  the  city,  and  excellent  roads  into 
the  country. 

Over  across  the  Gulf  of  Georgia  the  sairie  thing 
is  repeated ;  there  stretches  out  the  vast  region  of 
"British  Columbia,  with  another  seven  thousand  pop 
ulation,  largely  mining  and  American,  but  scattered 
from  the  capital  of  New  Westminster  at  the  mouth 
of  Frazer  River,  north  and  east  to  the  Carriboo 


208  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

country  and  the  valley  of  the  Kootenay,  five  hun 
dred  and  six  hundred  miles  away ;  duplicating  this 
formal  and  expensive  machinery  of  government, 
with  English  castles  almost  for  gubernatorial  resi 
dences,  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars  a  year  salaries 
to  live  in  them  with,  and  a  long  retinue  of  imported 
British  officials  to  match ;  raising  revenue  on  this 
side  the  gulf,  however,  from  customs  duties  and  a 
fifty  cent  tariff  on  every  ounce  of  gold  dug,  in  part ; 
and  giving  nothing  to  boast  of  back  but  better  roads 
to  the  mines  than  the  American  States  offer.  The 
taxation  for  public  purposes  in  British  Columbia 
swells  to  the  enormous  sum  of  one  hundred  dollars 
per  head  of  population,  and  that  in  Vancouver's 
Island  to  seventy  dollars,  a  year. 

The  Frazer  River  gold  diggings,  in  British  Co 
lumbia,  are  about  worked  out  now;  few  besides 
Chinamen  are  washing  in  them  this  year ;  and  the 
rush  of  the  white  miners  is  to  the  more  distant  and 
better  paying  regions  of  Carriboo  and  Kootenay, 
though  these,  as  all  others  ^>n  the  Coast,  are  over 
shadowed  this  season  by  the  fame  of  Idaho  and 
Montana. 

Victoria  is  the  chief  commercial  point  for  these 
two  British  Provinces,  and  in  part,  also,  for  Wash 
ington  Territory ;  and  much  profitable  smuggling 
goes  on  across  these  waters  and  imaginary  territo 
rial  lines  into  the  United  States.  There  are  fewer 
Americans  in  Victoria  than  formerly ;  they  are 
stepping  out,  as  its  prosperity  seems  waning ;  but 
the  English  element  is  apparently  increasing.  The 
two  nations  mingle  pretty  cordially;  the  Yankees 


RECEPTION    AT    VICTORIA.  2OQ 

chafe  a  good  deal  at  the  extraordinarily  high  taxes 
and  the  aristocratic  government,  and  even  practical 
John  Bull  begins  to  see  the  ridiculous  side  of  it. 
More  surely  than  the  Canadas,  even,  when  these 
provinces  become  really  important  and  worth  hav 
ing,  they  will  be  ours.  They  will  drift  to  the  Union 
by  the  inevitable  law  of  gravitation,  and  by  the  in 
fluence  of  the  leaven  of  American  nationality  and 
sentiment,  already  large  throughout  their  borders, 
that  will  grow  with  their  growth,  and  flavor  their 
'whole  progress.  Three  daily  papers  seem  to  pros 
per  in  Victoria;  the  stores  are  exceedingly  well 
built,  and,  aside  from  the  twenty-five  to  thirty-three 
per  cent,  that  are  now  unoccupied,  make  a  good 
showing  of  English  goods;  "shopping"  is  cheaper 
than  anywhere  in  the  States ;  and  the  whole  order 
of  the  civilization  here  has  many  pleasant  points 
of  contrast  with  other  towns  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

This,  too,  is  the  great  depot  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company ;  all  their  business  from  the  Pacific  Coast 
to  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  beyond  Minnesota, 
centers  here ;  and  their  warehouses  of  accumulat 
ing  furs  and  of  distributing  goods  to  pay  for  them 
are  among  the  chief  curiosities  of  the  place.  They 
do  a  general  trading  business  wherever  they  have 
stations  or  stores;  and  you  can  buy  calicoes  and 
cottons,  hardware  and  rum  at  their  counters,  as  at 
any  old-fashioned  country  store  in  New  England. 

Our  day  and  a  half  in  Victoria  has  been  a  very 
pleasant  experience  indeed.  The  Americans  gave 
Mr.  Colfax  and  his  friends  cordial  welcome;  the 
English  were  no  whit  less  hearty  in  demonstration 


2IO  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

of  good  feeling  and  respect ;  there  was  what  the 
French  call  a  "grand  dinner,"  the  eating  whereof 
lasted  from  seven  to  ten  p.  M.,  and  the  speaking 
whereat  continued  from  ten  to  three  A.  M., — the  re 
sult  of  which  was  that  all  little  international  differ 
ences  and  accounts  were  amicably  adjusted,  Andy 
Johnson  and  Queen  Victoria  were  married,  and  the 
two  grand  nations  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  were 
joined  into  one  overpowering,  all-subduing,  all-fruc 
tifying  Republic  !  "And  what  a  bloody  country  that 
would  be,"  exclaimed  an  enthusiastic  Britisher  at 
one  of  the  clock  in  the  morning. 

How  could  the  little  question  as  to  the  title  to  a 
group  of  small  islands  in  this  inland  &ea,  and  known 
by  the  name  of  the  largest,  San  Juan,  be  thought 
of  in  such  a  fraternal  baptism  ?  And,  indeed,  by 
the  cool  of  the  morning  after,  it  seems  a  very  small 
affair.  Nothing  but  wide  war  between  the  two 
countries  could  ever  make  it  of  the  slightest  prac 
tical  consequence.  The  question  turns  on  whether 
the  boundary  line  runs  from  strait  to  gulf  by  one 
channel  or  the  other,  this  side  the  islands  or  that. 
Meantime,  each  government  supports  a  captain  and 
corporal's  guard  of  soldiers  on  San  Juan, — only  dis 
tinguishable,  probably,  one  from  the  other  by  the 
blue  and  the  red  of  their  uniforms, — and  fraterniz 
ing  daily,  doubtless,  over  a  game  of  cards  and  a 
whisky  bottle.  All  these  differences  do  indeed 
grow  small  and  unpractical  as  you  get  near  to 
them ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  appreciate  what  an  ex 
citement  and  passion  one  of  our  generals  created 
up  here  a  few  years  ago  by  laying  hold  on  the  whole 


THE    SUMMER    IN    VICTORIA.  211 

of  what  the  half  is  a  burden.  Palpably,  by  the 
map,  and  by  the  course  of  ocean  travel,  the  Amer 
ican  claim  to  these  islands  is  the  right  one ;  but  in 
view  of  the  certainty  of  all  this  apple  falling  into 
our  lap  as  soon  as  it  is  ripe  enough  to  be  really  val 
uable,  the  present  status  may  as  well  as  not  go  in 
definitely  on. 

Up  here,  above  the  latitude  of  Quebec  and  Mon 
treal,  we  bask  in  the  smile  of  roses  that  are  denied 
to  you  in  New  England.  Mounts  Shasta  and  Hood 
of  California  and  Oregon  are  more  than  rivaled 
in  deep  snow  fields  and  majestic  snow  peaks  by 
Mounts  Rainier  and  Baker  of  Washington  ;  sailing 
down  Puget  Sound,  we  take  in  the  former  from  base 
to  three  peaked  summit  of  thirteen  thousand  feet 
in  hight,  all  aglow  with  perpetual  white, — a  feature 
of  deep  beauty  and  impressiveness ;  along  the  sea 
coast,  on  the  opposite  side,  the  hills  also  rise  to  the 
region  of  continuous  snow,  and  look  down  bald  and 
white  through  the  long  summer  days  into  the  trop 
ical  flower  gardens  and  orchards  and  hot  streets  of 
Victoria ;  and  here,  everywhere  under  these  wintry 
shadows,  reigns  a  year,  that  knows  no  zero  cold, 
and  rarely  freezing  water  or  snow;  that  winters 
fuchsias  and  the  most  delicate  roses,  English  ivies 
and  other  tender  plants,  and  summers  them  with 
rioting  luxuriance;  that  grows  the  apple,  the  pear 
and  all  the  small  fruits  to  perfection,  and  only  can 
not  grow  our  Indian  corn. 

The  climate  of  all  this  Pacific  Coast  certainly 
presents  many  solaces  and  satisfactions  in  compari 
son  with  our  own  New  England.  I  do  not  wonder 


212  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

the  emigrants  hither  find  new  health  and  life  and 
much  happiness  in  its  great  comparative  evenness ; 
but  I  do  not  yet  recognize  that  which  would  com 
pensate  me  for  the  loss  of  our  slow,  hesitating,  coy- 
ing  spring  times,  our  luxuriously-advancing,  tender, 
red  and  brown  autumns,  aye,  and  our  clear  and 
crisply-cold  winter  days  and  snow-covered  lands, 
with  the  contrasting  evergreens,  the  illuminated 
sky,  the  delicately  fretted  architecture  of  the  leaf 
less  trees,  the  sunsets,  the  nerve-giving  tonic  of  the 
air.  Surely  there  is  more  various  beauty  in  the 
progress  of  a  New  England  year  than  any  which 
all  the  Pacific  Coast  can  offer. 


LETTER    XXL 

SAN    FRANCISCO:    MR.   COLFAX    AND    HIS    RECEP 
TION    IN    THE    PACIFIC    STATES. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  August  2. 

"  FRISCOE,"  as  the  interior  lovingly  and  for  short 
calls  the  commercial  capital  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  is 
a  good  place  to  come  back  to,  after  dusty  stage  rides 
and  rolling  ocean  travel.  It  is  refreshing  to  stretch 
on  a  wide  bed  at  the  Occidental,  after  tangling  your 
legs  over  night  in  the  corner  of  a  "  mud  wagon,"  or 
cramping  them  in  the  narrow  berth  of  a  steamer. 
It  is  something  to  miss  the  punctual  Speaker's  in 
junction  to  be  ready  at  four  in  the  morning,  and  his 
quick,  cheery  voice  at  quarter  before,  cautioning  us 
"  to  be  sure  and  be  on  hand ; "  something  also  to 
sleep  as  long  as  we  can,  and  eat  when  we  have  a 
mind  to;  much,  indeed,  to  know  that  no  brass 
bands  lie  in  wait  for  us,  no  hoarse  cannon  hold  a 
horrid  welcome  for  tender  nerves,  no  midnight  din 
ners  vex  dyspeptic  stomachs. 

There  is  real  refreshment  and  rest,  always,  in  the 
independence  and  let-you-alone-ativeness"  of  a  large 
city.  And  Friscoe  is,  indeed,  a  good  place,  per  se. 
The  Washoe  people  have  their  chief  incentive  to 


214  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

piety  in  the  assurance  that  thus,  when  they  die, 
they  will  come  here ;  just  as  good  Bostonians  count 
Paris  their  paradise.  These  bare,  brown  and  white 
sand  hills,  that  Nature  exposes  where  art  has  not 
covered  her,  all  around  in  San  Francisco,  furnish 
no  poetical  proof  of  the  susceptible  Washoe  theory ; 
they  are  just  about  as  far  away  from  all  traditional 
and  imaginative  ideas  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  as  it 
is  possible  for  ugly  fact  to  be ;  but  the  dissimilitude 
of  the  "  Friscoe"  climate  to  all  known  anywhere  else 
on  the  face  of  the  terrestrial  globe,  may  suggest  a 
point  on  the  side  of  the  Washoeites.  You  cannot 
palm  off  old  Thomas's  almanac  on  the  weather 
question, — "calculated  for  Boston,  but  equally  ap 
plicable  to  any  other  meridian," — in  this  town. 
San  Francisco  weather  is  only  its  own  parallel; 
there  is  nothing  like  it,  either  here  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  or  elsewhere,  so  far  as  Bayard  Taylor  has 
traveled,  or  Fitzhugh  Ludlow  imagined  in  Hash 
eesh.  It  has  its  summer  in  winter,  and  its  winter 
in  summer ;  the  ladies  go  to  church  and  to  opera 
and  a  shopping,  in  July  and  August,  clad  in  heavy 
furs ;  overcoats  are  a  daily  necessity  to  every  man 
not  lined  with  a  patent  air-tight  coal  stove ;  and 
this  very  day  of  August  is  borrowed  from  the  sui 
cide  week  of  November, — I  would  go  "my  bottom 
dollar,"  as  the  miners  say,  that  it  would  snow  in 
half  an  hour,  were  I  on  my  native  heath.  And 
yet, — ingrate,  am  I  not? — while  I  write  this  plaint, 
I  am  eating  Sweetwater  grapes  bought  in  the  shops 
at  ten  cents  a  pound,  though  the  season  is  but  just 
opening;  Black  Hamburgs  are  equally  cheap  and 


SAN  FRANCISCO'S  SUMMERS.  215 

plenty ;  peaches  are  ponderous  and  luscious  at  fifty 
cents  to  one  dollar  a  basket;  and  pears,  plums, 
apricots,  nectarines,  figs,  blackberries  and  straw 
berries  (still !)  all  flood  the  fruit  stores,  and  are  sold 
at  equally  low  rates. 

What  gives  San  Francisco  its  harsh  summer  days 
is,  that  it  is  constantly  "in  the  draft."  While  else 
where,  along  shore,  the  coast  hills  uninterruptedly 
break  the  steady  north-west  breeze  -of  the  summer 
sea,  here  they  open  just  enough  to  let  out  the  wa 
ters  of  the  Sacramento  River  and  San  Francisco 
bay,  and  let  in  like  a  tide  of  escape  steam  the  ocean 
breeze  and  mists.  When  winter  comes,  the  wind 
changes  to  south-east,  and  blows  to  softer  scale,  and 
between  showers, — for  then  comes  the  rain, — the 
sky  is  clearer  and  the  air  balmier  than  in  summer. 
Thus  the  Friscoe  people  boast  of  their  winters,  and 
apologize  for  their  summers.  Invalids,  especially 
of  weak  lungs,  find  the  latter  seasons  very  trying 
here,  and  flee  to  the  protected  valleys  inland,  where 
the  days  are  hot  and  clear,  and  the  nights  agreeably 
cool ;  and  come  back  here  to  winter  safely  and  so 
ciably. 

Ben  Holladay's  good  steamer  Sierra  Nevada 
brought  us  down  from  Victoria  in  less  than  three 
days ;  and  we  tried  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  came  in 
by  the  Golden  Gate  for  the  first  time.  Though  no 
storm  raged,  the  sea  did  not  prove  title  to  the  name, 
but  rolled  and  pitched  us  altogether  unpacifically ; 
and  the  mile  wide  gate  to  San  Francisco,  guarded 
by  high  hills,  abruptly  opened,  and  bristling  with 
fortifications,  found  from  us  ready  answer  to  its 


2l6  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

welcome ;  and  we  swept  around  its  double  corner, 
and  came  to  wharf  in  the  generous  and  land-locked 
bay  of  San  Francisco,  with  thanksgiving  and  grati 
tude,  swelling  anew  and  higher  to  Providence,  Cap 
tain  Conner  and  Dr.  Murdock,  as  we  learned  the 
sad  fate  of  our  alternate  steamer,  the  Brother  Jona 
than,  on  her  passage  by  us  up  the  route.  We  passed 
her  and  her  fatal  rock,  only  an  hour  or  two  before 
their  sudden  and  sad  collision ;  and  we  readily  join, 
as  you  can  imagine,  in  the  wide  tide  of  feeling  that 
the  disaster  creates  here.  The  genial  old  General 
Wright,  long  and  honorable  in  service,  and  beloved 
throughout  the  Pacific  States,  and  Mr.  Nesbit  of 
the  Bulletin  editorial  staff,  we  knew,  and  had  expe 
rienced  their  hospitality.  Other  prominent  and  be 
loved  citizens  went  down  in  that  mysterious,  sudden 
wreck. 

Speaker  Colfax  and  his  friends  have  now  made 
the  round  of  the  Pacific  States  and  Territories,  so 
far  as  their  time  will  admit.  Idaho  and  Montana 
they  regret  not  to  visit,  but  they  have  obtained 
much  intimate  knowledge  of  their  characteristics 
and  capacities.  A  month  more  remains  to  them 
here ;  and  this  they  spend  in  excursions  to  the  in 
terior  of  California, — to  the  Big  Trees,  the  Yosem- 
ite,  the  Geysers,  etc., — and  in  more  private  engage 
ments  in  this  city  and  State,  than  they  have  yet 
been  able  to  make.  The  Speaker's  public  visit,  or 
perhaps  more  properly  his  public  reception  by  the 
people  of  the  Pacific  States,  may  be  said  to  be  over. 
It  has  been  a  very  remarkable  one  for  its  generos 
ity  and  universality  and  spontaneity;  altogether 


THE    GREETINGS    TO    MR.  COLFAX. 

unexpected  to  him,  and  so  still  more  flattering; 
and  greatly  creditable  to  the  hospitality  and  genu 
ine  patriotism  of  the  people  of  these  States.  I  have 
omitted  any  record  of  it,  in  our  progress  from  town 
to  town  and  State  to  State,  because  the  story  in  all 
general  terms  was  the  same.  But  now  that  it  is 
substantially  over  and  the  journey  completed,  it  is 
only  simple  truth  to  say  that  no  man  ever  had  such 
a  generous  popular  welcome  on  these  shores  before. 
From  his  arrival  at  Austin  in  Nevada,  where  we 
first  struck  the  spreading  tide  of  Pacific  civilization 
and  population,  through  that  State,  through  Cali 
fornia  to  this  city,  and  again  northerly  through 
the  State,  through  Oregon  and  Washington,  and 
into  the  British  Provinces,  up  to  this  time, — a 
period  of  six  weeks, — his  progress  through  the 
country  has  been  a  continuous  popular  ovation. 
Everywhere  the  same  welcome  from  authorities 
and  citizens,  the  same  unstinted  proffer  of  every 
facility  for  the  journey,  for  seeing  all  parts  of  the 
country,  all  shades  of  its  development:  special 
coaches,  special  trains  and  extra  steamboats  have 
been  at  his  service ;  welcome  everywhere  to  confi 
dence,  to  fullest  fact  from  most  intelligent  sources ; 
welcome  everywhere  by  brass  band,  cannon,  mili 
tary  escort,  public  addresses  ;  and  everywhere,  even 
to  smallest  village  and  tavern  collection  of  neigh 
boring  rancheros,  the  same  eager  desire  to  hear  the 
distinguished  visitor  speak,  and  eke  then  for  big 
or  little  orations  from  his  less  distinguished  com 
panions. 

There  is  a  combination  of  causes  for  the  marked 

10 


2l8  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

demonstrativeness  and  popularity  of  this  welcome 
to  Mr.  Colfax  in  all  this  region.  Chief,  of  course, 
are  his  conspicuous  public  position,  and  the  fact  that 
he  is  the  first  man  high  in  State  who  has  ever  visited 
the  Pacific  States  for  the  simple  and  sole  reason  of 
studying  their  resources  and  interests,  so  as  the 
better  to  serve  them  in  the  government ;  his  early 
and  steady  friendship  and  leadership  in  important 
legislation  at  Washington  in  behalf  of  all  this  re 
gion  ;  his  wide  personal  popularity  among  public 
men  and  private  men,  who  have  ever  known  him, 
and  the  magnetic  spread  of  this  popularity  along 
his  journey  from  his  intercourse  with  the  people 
and  his  speeches  to  them.  We  must  add  to  these 
reasons,  now,  the  newly-developed  and  hearty  sym 
pathy  of  these  western  States  with  the  political  ex 
periences  and  interests  of  the  East ;  their  inability 
to  share  in  the  war  directly,  but  their  therefore 
more  intensely  loyal  feeling  in  regard  to  it  and  its 
issues,  and  the  limited  occasion  for  expressing  it. 
Also,  and  an  important  consideration,  is  the  eager 
looking  for  larger  knowledge  and  new  appreciation 
of  the  capacities  and  interests  of  these  States,  in 
this  time  of  their  depression  and  comparative  pov 
erty  ;  and  the  desire  for  the  spread  of  such  infor 
mation  among  the  public  men,  and  through  the 
press  of  the  East,  as  will  lead  to  a  fresh  emigration 
and  a  new  supply  of  capital.  It  is  dull  times  here ; 
it  is  flush  times  in  the  East ;  and  the  West  would 
borrow  of  our  new  life  and  prosperity.  Mr.  Colfax 
and  his  companions  were  men  thought  to  be  in  po 
sitions  to  contribute  to  such  results;  and  part  of 


THE    SPEECHES    OF    MR.  COLFAX. 

their  welcome,  part  of  the  generous  confidence  and 
hospitality  that  have  been  extended  to  them,  have 
confessedly  been  on  this  ground.  Such  union  of 
motive,  gratitude,  appreciation,  loyalty,  wise  and 
creditable  selfishness,  have  inspired  and  fed  most 
bountiful  welcome  and  treatment.  These  western 
people  never  do  anything  by  halves ;  they  give  of 
feeling  and  of  time  and  of  money,  whenever  they 
are  moved,  without  stint,  without  calculation. 

Mr.  Colfax  has  freely  gratified  the  popular  desire 
everywhere  to  listen  to  his  voice ;  no  place  on  his 
route  was  too  small,  no  gathering  too  insignificant, 
to  be  turned  off  with  indifference,  when  such  hearty 
greeting  appealed  for  attention  ;  and  he  has  spoken, 
long  and  short,  an  average  of  at  least  once  a  day 
since  he  left  the  Missouri  River; — some  days  his 
speeches  number  four  and  five.  Never  much  stud 
ied,  they  were  rarely  alike  in  form ;  never  greatly 
elaborated,  they  always  reached  a  high  level  of  pop 
ular  eloquence.  The  average  quality  of  excellence 
in  all  his  efforts  has  surprised  me :  I  doubt  if  any 
other  of  our  public  men  could  speak  so  often  and 
so  much,  and  on  such  various  occasions,  and  suc- 
.ceed  so  well  in  all.  The  characteristics  of  his  speak 
ing  have  been  practical  wisdom  or  good  sense,  entire 
frankness  in  utterance  of  opinions,  a  charming  sim 
plicity  in  his  style  of  oratory,  coupled  with  a  ready, 
clear  expression,  and  a  steady,  natural  enthusiasm, 
which  have  kept  his  hearers  in  constant  sympathy 
with  his  individuality.  The  staple  subjects  he  has 
treated  have  been  the  War  and  the  questions  grow 
ing  out  of  it,  the  Resources  of  the  Pacific  States 


22O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

and  their  development,  the  Mining  and  the  taxation 
of  its  results,  the  Mexican  question  and  the  Monroe 
doctrine,  the  Future  Destiny  of  the  Republic,  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  his  character,  the  Pacific  Railroad,  and 
such  local  and  personal  matters  as  the  place  and 
hour  suggested. 

As  to  the  mines  and  the  taxation  of  their  prod 
ucts,  which  is  a  subject  of  much  anxiety  in  the 
mining  districts,  Mr.  Colfax  has  taken  the  ground 
that  the  mineral  lands  should  be  thrown  open  by 
the  government  to  the  free  occupation  of  discover 
ers  and  workers,  the  same  as  our  agricultural  lands, 
and  under  similar  regulations  to  those  the  miners 
themselves  have  adopted,  in  the  absence  of  any 
governmental  action,  and  that  the  government 
-should  not  tax  the  product  until  it  passes,  finally, 
in  the  form  of  bullion,  into  the  commercial  uses  of 
the  world ; — the  same  as  it  taxes  grain  only  in  the 
form  of  whiskey  and  flour,  sheep  and  wool  as  cloth, 
and  the  woods  in  their  last  processes  of  manufac 
ture.  He  argued  this  point  so  justly  and  strongly 
that  he  gained  general  acquiescence  even  from  the 
classes  who  have  generally  contended  that  mining 
should,  in  no  form  or  stage,  be  obliged  to  contribute 
to  the  support  of  the  government. 

On  the  Mexican  question,  he  even  more  bravely 
set  himself  against  the  current  of  jDublic  opinion  on 
this  Coast.  Here  it  is  popular  to  talk  of  "cleaning 
out"  Maximilian  in  sixty  days  ;  of  taking  up  arms  for 
the  Juarez  government,  even  if  war  with  England 
and  France  should  thus  be  precipitated.  Mr.  Colfax 
said  distinctly  that  he  had  no  sympathy  with  this 


MR.  COLFAX  AND  THE  MEXICAN  QUESTION.    221 

demand;  he  believed  in  the  Monroe  doctrine,  he 
thought  the  Juarez  was  the  rightful  government  of 
Mexico ;  but  he  was  for  no  hasty,  no  harsh  action 
by  our  people  or  government.  We  should  have  no 
new  war  if  it  could  be  avoided  honorably;  we 
needed  the  healing,  developing  influences  of  peace ; 
we  needed  to  build  the  Pacific  Railroad,  to  develop 
our  mines  and  our  manufactures  and  our  agricul 
ture,  and  to  pay  our  debts, — all  which  would  be  for 
bidden  or  suffer  delay  and  depression  under  foreign 
war ;  and  he  believed  that  with  patience  and  tact, 
and  a  generous  confidence  in  our  government  by 
the  people,  the  Mexican  question  would  be  satis 
factorily  solved  ere  long,  without  any  such  dire 
calamity  as  a  new  and  general  taking  up  of  arms 
by  the  Nation.  Pressing  these  views  constantly 
and  against  the  popular  passion,  he  has  clearly 
made  a  strong  impression  in  their  favor;  leading 
citizens  and  prominent  journals  have  responded  to 
his  opinions ;  and  he  may  be  said  to  have  worked 
almost  a  revolution  in  the  current  public  sentiment 
of  the  Pacific  States  on  this  subject ;  while  he  has 
added  to  the  universal  respect  felt  for  him  personally 
by  his  courage  in  espousing  an  unpopular  view  here. 
His  visit  may  be  counted  as  of  real  national  benefit 
for  the  influence  of  his  course  in  this  matter  alone. 
Mr.  Colfax's  speeches  at  Austin,  Virginia  City, 
Placerville,  Sacramento,  San  Francisco,  Portland 
and  Olympia  may  be  reckoned  as  his  most  com 
plete  and  satisfactory  and  statesmanlike  discus 
sions.  That  at  the  dinner  table  in  Victoria,  to  his 
combined  American  and  British  entertainers,  was 


222  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

his  finest  specimen  of  popular  eloquence;  it  was 
well-conceived  and  tasteful  in  thought,  well-pitched 
and  richly  sustained  in  expression ;  and  its  impres 
sion  upon  his  audience,  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
and  critical  he  has  ever  addressed,  was  most  decided 
and  gratifying.  The  leading  English  gentlemen 
present  were  enthusiastic  concerning  both  its  mat 
ter  and  manner.  It  breathed  the  spirit  of  peace 
and  fraternal  feeling  towards  the  English  sovereign 
and  people ;  while  setting  forth  most  effectively  the 
success  and  destiny  of  the  great  American  Re 
public. 

Mr.  Colfax  has  indeed  gained  credit  and  popu 
larity  everywhere  on  his  journey,  and  his  visit  here 
is  as  likely  to  prove  as  valuable  to  him  personally, 
in  his  growth  as  a  public  man,  as  it  surely  will  be 
important  and  useful  in  intertwining  the  bonds  of 
business  and  of  political  union,  of  profit  and  of  pa 
triotism,  among  the  widely  separated  States  of  the 
Nation.  Of  his  companions  in  his  travels,  Governor 
Bross  has  generally  joined  him  in  addressing  the 
popular  audiences  that  have  welcomed  the  party, 
and  Mr.  RicharcTson  occasionally,  and  both  with 
much  acceptance.  The  Governor  is  sure  to  gain 
the  cheers  of  the  men,  the  smiles  of  the  ladies; 
and  Mr.  Richardson  has  charmed  all  by  his  cul 
tured  sentences  and  his  well-rounded  rhetoric 


LETTER     XXII. 

THE    YOSEMITE    VALLEY   AND    THE    BIG    TREES. 


YOSEMITE  VALLEY,  California,  August  1 1. 
THE  YOSEMITE  !  As  well  interpret  God  in  thirty- 
nine  articles  as  portray  it  to  you  by  word  of  mouth 
or  pen.  As  well  reproduce  castle  or  cathedral  by 
a  stolen  frieze,  or  broken  column,  as  this  assem 
blage  of  natural  wonder  and  beauty  by  photograph 
or  painting.  The  overpowering  sense  of  the  sub 
lime,  of  awful  desolation,  of  transcending  marvel- 
ousness  and  unexpectedness,  that  swept  over  us,  as 
we  reined  our  horses  sharply  out  of  green  forests, 
and  stood  upon  high  jutting  rock  that  overlooked 
this  rolling,  upheaving  sea. of  granite  mountains, 
holding  far  down  its  rough  lap  this  vale  of  beauty 
of  meadow  and  grove  and  river, — such  tide  of  feel 
ing,  such  stoppage  of  ordinary  emotions  comes  at 
rare  intervals  in  any  life.  It  was  the  confrontal  of 
God  face  to  face,  as  in  great  danger,  in  solemn,  sud 
den  death.  It  was  Niagara,  magnified.  All  that 
was  mortal  shrank  back,  all  that  was  immortal 
swept  to  the  front  and  bent  down  in  awe.  We 
sat  till  the  rich  elements  of  beauty  came  out  of  the 
majesty  and  the  desolation,  and  then,  eager  to  get 


224  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

nearer,  pressed  tired  horses  down  the  steep,  rough 
path  into  the  Valley. 

And  here  we  have  wandered  and  wondered 
and  worshiped  for  four  days.  Under  sunshine 
and  shadow;  by  rich,  mellow  moonlight;  by  stars 
opening  double  wide  their  eager  eyes ;  through  a 
peculiar  August  haze,  delicate,  glowing,  creamy,  yet 
hardly  perceptible  as  a  distinct  element, — the  New 
England  Indian  summer  haze  doubly  refined, — by 
morning  and  evening  twilight,  across  camp  fires,  up 
from  beds  upon  the  ground  through  all  the  watches 
of  the  night,  have  we  seen  these,  the  great  natural 
wonders  and  beauties  of  this  western  world.  In 
deed,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  no  so  limited 
space  in  all  the  known  world  offers  such  majestic 
and  impressive  beauty.  Niagara  alone  divides  hon 
ors  with  it  in  America.  Only  the  whole  of  Switzer 
land  can  surpass  it, — no  one  scene  in  all  the  Alps% 
can  match  this  before  me  now  in  the  things  that 
mark  the  memory  and  impress  all  the  senses  for 
beauty  and  for  sublimity. 

The  one  distinguishing  feature  is  a  double  wall 
of  perpendicular  granite,  rising  from  a  half  a  mile 
to  a  mile  in  hight,  and  inclosing  a  valley  not  more 
than  half  a  mile  in  width  on  the  average,  and  from 
ten  to  fifteen  miles  in  length.  It  is  a  fissure,  a 
chasm,  rather  than  a  valley,  in  solid  rock  mountains  ; 
there  is  not  breadth  enough  in  it  for  even  one  of 
its  walls  to  lie  down ;  and  yet  it  offers  all  the  fer 
tility,  all  the  beauties  of  a  rich  valley.  There  is 
meadow  with  thick  grass ;  there  are  groves  of  pine 
and  oak,  the  former  exquisite  in  form  and  majestic 


THE  VERDURE  OF  THE  VALLEY.       225 

in  size,  rising  often  to  two  hundred  and  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty  feet ;  there  are  thickets  of  willow  and 
birch,  bay  trees  and  dogwood,  and  various  flowering 
shrubs ;  primrose  and  cowslip  and  golden  rod  and 
violet  and  painted  cup,  more  delicate  than  eastern 
skies  can  welcome,  make  gay  garden  of  all  the  va 
cant  fields  now  in  August ;  the  aroma  of  mint,  of 
pine  and  fir,  of  flower  loads  the  air ;  the  fern  family 
find  a  familiar  home  everywhere ;  and  winding  in 
and  out  among  all  flows  the  Merced  River,  so  pure 
and  transparent  that  you  can  hardly  tell  where  the 
air  leaves  off  and  the  water  begins,  rolling  rapid  over 
polished  stones  or  soft  sands,  or  staying  in  wide, 
deep  pools  that  invite  the  bather  and  the  boat,  and 
holding  trout  only  less  rich  and  dainty  than  the 
brook  trout  of  New  England.  The  soil,  the  trees, 
the  shrubs,  the  grasses  and  the  flowers  of  this  little 
Valley  are  much  the  same  in  general  character  and 
variety  as  those  of  your  Connecticut  River  valleys  ; 
but  they  are  richer  in  development  and  greater  in 
numbers.  They  borrow  of  the  mountain  fecundity 
and  sweetness ;  and  they  are  fed  by  summer  rains 
as  those  of  other.  California  valleys  rarely  are. 

Now  imagine, — can  you? — rising  up,  sheer  and 
sharp,  on  each  side  of  this  line  of  fertile  beauty, 
irregularly-flowing  and  variously-crowned  walls  of 
granite  rock,  thrice  as  high  as  your  Mounts  Tom 
and  Holyoke,  twice  as  high  as  Berkshire's  Graylock. 
The  color  of  the  rock  is  most  varied.  A  grayish 
drab  or  yellow  is  the  dominant  shade,  warm  and 
soft.  In  large  spots,  it  whitens  out ;  and  again  it 
is  dark  and  discolored  as  if  by  long  exposure  to 
10*  15  ' 


226  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

rain  and  snow  and  wind.  Sometimes  the  light  and 
dark  shades  are  thrown  into  quick  contrast  on  a 
single  wall,  and  you  know  where  the  Zebra  and 
Dr.  Bellows'  church  were  borrowed  from.  More 
varied  and  exquisite  still  are  the  shapes  into  which 
the  rocks  are  thrown.  The  one  great  conspicuous 
object  of  the  Valley  is  a  massive,  two-sided  wall, 
standing  out  into  and  over  the  meadow,  yellowish- 
gray  in  color,  and  rising  up  into  the  air  unbroken, 
square,  perpendicular,  for  full  three-quarters  of  a 
mile.  It  bears  in  Spanish  and  Indian  the  name  of 
the  Great  Jehovah ;  and  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  it 
was  an  object  of  worship  by  the  barbarians,  as  it  is 
not  difficult  for  civilization  to  recognize  the  Infinite 
in  it,  and  impossible  not  to  feel  awed  and  humbled 
in  its  presence. 

In  other  places  these  mountain  walls  of  rock  take 
similar  and  only  less  majestic  shape ;  while  as  fre 
quently  they  assume  more  poetical  and  fantastic 
forms.  Here  and  there  are  grand  massive  domes, 
as  perfect  in  shape  as  your  State-house  dome,  and 
bigger  than  the  entire  of  a  dozen  State-houses. 
The  highest  rock  of  the  Valley  is  a  perfect  half- 
dome,  split  sharp  and  square  in  the  middle,  and 
rising  more  than  a  mile  or  near  six  thousand  feet,— 
as  high  as  Mount  Washington  is  above  the  level  of 
the  sea, — over  the  little  lake  which  perfectly  mirrors 
its  majestic  form  at  its  foot.  Perfect  pyramids  take 
their  places  in  the  wall ;  then  these  pyramids  come 
in  families,  and  mount  away  one  after  and  above 
the  other,  as  "The  Three  Brothers."  "The  Cathe 
dral  Rocks"  and  "The  Cathedral  Spires"  unite  the 


THE    MONARCH   ROCKS.  22/ 

great  impressiveness,  the  beauty  and  the  fantastic 
form  of  the  Gothic  architecture.  From  their  shape 
and  color  alike,  it  is  easy  to  imagine,  in  looking  upon 
them,  that  you  are  under  the  ruins  of  an  old  Gothic 
cathedral,  to  which  those  of  Cologne  and  Milan  are 
but  baby-houses. 

The  most  common  form  of  the  rocks  is  a  slightly 
sloping  bare  wall,  lying  in  long,  dizzy  sweeps,  some 
times  horizontal,  sometimes  perpendicular,  and 
stretching  up  and  up  so  high  as  to  cheat  the  Valley 
out  of  hours  of  sunshine  every  day.  Here  huge 
arches  are  carved  on  the  face;  there  long,  narrow 
shelves  run  midway,  along  which  and  in  every  avail 
able  crevice,  great  pines  sprout  and  grow,  yet  ap 
pearing  like  shrubs  against  the  broad  hight  of  the 
wall ;  again,  the  rock  lies  in  thick  folds,  one  upon 
another,  like  the  hide  of  a  rhinoceros ;  occasional 
columns  stand  out  as  if  sculptured  upon  the  sur 
face  ;  sometimes  it  juts  out  at  the  top  over  the  Val 
ley  like  the  brim  of  a  beaver ;  and  then  it  recedes 
and  sharpens  to  a  cone.  Many  of  the  various 
shapes  and  shades  of  color  in  the  surface  of  these 
massive  walls  of  rock  come  from  the  peeling  off  of 
great  masses  of  the  granite.  Frost  and  ice  get  into 
the  weak  crevices,  and  blast  out  huge  slices  or  frag 
ments,  that  fall  in  boulders,  from  the  size  of  a  great 
house  down  to  that  of  an  apple,  into  the  valley  be 
low. 

Over  the  sides  of  the  walls  pour  streams  of  ,wa- 
ter  out  of  narrower  valleys  still  above,  and  .yet 
higher  and  far  away,  rise  to  twelve  and  thirteen 
thousand  feet  the  culminating  peaks  of  the  Sierra 


228  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Nevadas,  with  still  visible  fields  of  melting  snows. 
All  forms  and  shapes  and  colors  of  majesty  and 
beauty  cluster  around  this  narrow  spot;  it  seems 
created  the  home  of  all  that  is  richest  in  inspiration 
for  the  heroic  in  life,  for  poetry,  for  painting,  for  im 
aginative  religion. 

The  Water-falls  of  the  Valley,  though  a  lesser  inci 
dent  in  all  its  attractions,  offer  much  that  is  marvel 
ous  and  beautiful.  This,  however,  is  the  season  of 
their  feeblest  power.  It  is  in  May  and  June,  when 
their  fountains  are  freshest,  that  they  appear  at  their 
best,  and  assume  their  proper  place  in  the  grand 
panorama  of  beauty  and  sublimity.  In  the  main 
portion  of  the  Valley,  the  Bridal  Vail  is  the  first  con 
spicuous  fall, — now  a  dainty  rivulet  starting  over  a 
precipice  nine  hundred  feet  high,  but  nearly  all  lost 
at  once  in  delicate  spray  that  sways  and  scatters  in 
the  light  breeze,  and  fastens  upon  the  wall,  as  sign 
of  its  being  and  its  beauty,  the  fabled  rainbow  of 
promise.  The  name  of  this  fall  is  well  chosen ;  it 
is  type  of  the  delicate  gauze,  floating  and  illusory, 
by  which  brides  delight  to  hide  their  blushes  and 
give  mystery  to  their  charms.  Farther  up,  before 
the  hotel,  you  see  the  Yosemite  Fall,  perhaps  twice 
the  size  in  volume  of  the  Bridal  Vail,  but  distin 
guished  for  its  hight, — the  greatest  hight  of  any 
water-fall  yet  discovered  in  the  world.  It  is  broken 
about  two-thirds  the  way  down  its  high  wall  of  rock 
by  projecting  masses  of  the  mountain,  giving  it  sev 
eral  hundred  feet  of  cataract  passage ;  but  counting 
its  whole  fall  from  top  to  bottom,  it  is  two  thousand 
six  hundred  feet  in  hight,  which  is  onlv  fifteen  times 


THE  VERNAL  AND  NEVADA  FALLS.     22Q 

as  high  as  Niagara  Falls !  Now,  it  is  a  mere  silvery 
ribbon  of  spray,  shooting  down  its  long  passage  in 
delicate  rockets  of  whitened  foam.  Earlier  in  the 
season,  when  ten  times  the  volume  of  water  pours 
down,  it  must,  indeed,  be  a  feature  of  fascinating, 
wonderful  beauty. 

The  Valley  above  this  point  separates  into  two 
or  three  narrow  canyons,  and  these  are  soon  walled 
in  by  the  uprising  rocks.  At  the  end  of  one  of 
these,  the  main  branch  of  the  river  falls  from  its 
upper  fountains  over  two  walls,  one  three  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  high  and  the  other  seven  hundred,  at 
points  half  a  mile  apart.  The  lower  and  shorter 
fall  is  called  the  Vernal,  and  pours  down  its  whole 
hight  without  a  break,  and  forms  at  the  base  a  most 
exquisite  circular  rainbow,  one  of  the  rarest  phe 
nomena  in  all  nature.  The  upper  fall  bears  the 
name  of  Nevada,  breaks  as  it  comes  over  its  crest 
into  a  grand  blossom  of  spray,  and  strikes,  about 
half  way  down  its  seven  hundred  feet,  the  obtrud 
ing  wall,  which  thence  offers  just  sufficient  slope  to 
keep  the  water  and  carry  it  in  chasing,  circling  lines 
of  foam  to  the  bottom.  This  is  the  fall  of  falls, — 
there  is  no  rival  to  it  here  in  exquisite,  various,  fas 
cinating  beauty;  and  Switzerland,  which  abounds 
in  Water-falls  of  like  type,  holds  none  of  such  pe 
culiar  charms.  Not  a  drop  of  the  rich  stream  of 
water  but  is  white  in  its  whole  passage, — it  is  one 
sheet,  rather  one  grand  lace-work  of  spray  from 
beginning  to  end.  As  it  sweeps  down  its  plane  of 
rock,  each  drop  all  distinct,  all  alive,  there  is  noth 
ing  of  human  art  that  you  can  compare  it  with  but 


230  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

innumerable  and  snow-white  point-lace  collars  and 
capes;  as  much  more  delicate  and  beautiful  and 
perfect,  however,  as  Nature  ever  is  than  Art.  For 
half  the  distance  between  the  two  falls,  the  river 
runs  swift  over  a  solid  plane  of  granite,  clean  and 
smooth  as  ice,  as  if  Neptune  was  on  a  grand  sliding- 
down  hill  frolic. 

The  excursion  to  this  head  of  the  chasm  from  the 
stopping-place  below  is  through  narrow  denies,  over 
fallen  rocks,  up  the  sides  of  precipices,  and  over 
perpendicular  walls  by  ladders,  for  a  total  distance 
of  about  four  miles,  and  is  the  most  difficult  and 
fatiguing  one  that  confronts  the  visitor;  but  both 
in  the  beauty  of  its  Water-falls,  and  the  new  and 
rare  shapes  of  rock  scenery  that  it  offers,  it  is  most 
richly  compensating,  and  never  should  be  omitted. 

The  journey  hither  from  San  Francisco  is  both 
a  tedious  and  an  expensive  one,  and  so  a  barrier  to 
the  extensive  popular  enjoyment  of  the  rare  works 
of  nature  here  gathered.  But  the  number  of  visi 
tors  is  rapidly  increasing ;  last  year  there  were  in 
ail  but  one  hundred,  and  already  this  season  over 
three  hundred  persons  have  come  into  the  Valley. 
Congress  has  ceded  the  territory  of  the  Valley  to 
the  State  of  California  for  reservation  and  preser 
vation  as  a  spot  for  public  resort  and  popular  enjoy 
ment  ;  and  a  laudable  and  promising  effort  is  now 
making,  under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Frederick  Law  Olm- 
stead,  the  manager  of  the  Mariposa  estate,  to  secure 
an  appropriation  from  the  State  treasury  for  improv 
ing  the  means  of  access,  laying  out  paths  among  its 
beauties,  and  providing  cheap  yet  agreeable  accom- 


THE  JOURNEY   TO    THE    YOSEMITE.  23! 

modations  for  visitors.  This  wise  cession  and  dedi 
cation  by  Congress,  and  proposed  improvement  by 
California,  also  includes  the  nearest  of  the  groves 
of  Big  Trees,  which  is  to  be  similarly  held  and  pro 
tected  for  the  public  benefit,  and  furnishes  an  ad 
mirable  example  for  other  objects  of  natural  curi 
osity  and  popular  interest  all  over  the  Union.  New 
York  should  preserve  for  popular  use  both  Niagara 
Falls  and  its  neighborhood  and  a  generous  section 
of  her  famous  Adirondacks,  and  Maine  one  of  her 
lakes  and  its  surrounding  woods. 

The  first  stage  of  xthe  journey  to  the  Yosemite  is 
by  steamboat  to  Stockton,  up  the  Sacramento  and 
San  Joaquin  Rivers,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
miles.  Next  was  a  stage  ride  of  a  day  and  a  half 
(one  hundred  miles)  up  the  San  Joaquin  valley,  over 
now  arid  plains,  waiting  for  irrigation  to  be  produc 
tive,  and  turning  next  tc  the  east,  among  the  foot 
hills  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  along  the  valleys  of  the 
tributaries  of  the  San  Joaquin,  and  into  and  through 
Mariposa  County,  seventy  square  miles  of  which 
constitute  the  celebrated  Mariposa  estate  of  Gen 
eral  Fremont.  Here,  at  a  point  near  the  village  of 
Mariposa,  we  came  to  the  end  of  the  stage  road,  and 
entered  upon  forty  miles  of  horseback  riding,  so 
much  farther  into  the  bowels  of  the  Sierras,  in 
order  to  reach  the  Happy  Valley.  Along  a  nar 
row  trail,  climbing  up  and  down  steep  mountains, 
by  and  through  close  defiles,  through  continuous 
forests  of  majestic  pines  and  firs,  rich  with  yellow- 
green  mosses,  up  to  six  and  eight  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  we  rode  in  single  file, — a  part 


232  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

of  the  way  by  a  moonlight  that  lent  indescribable 
picturesqueness  and  fascination  to  forest  and  ravine, 
besides  frequent  doubt  as  to  the  trail ; — every  hour 
a  joy,  every  hour  a  fatigue,  full  of  soreness  and  dirt 
and  merriment;  eager  for  the  end,  but  enjoying 
every  moment  of  the  novel  experience,  every  long 
mile  of  the  rare  road. 

Our  party  had  swollen  to  seventeen,  the  largest 
that  had  ever  made  the  trip,  and  included  five 
ladies.  We  had  Law  Olmstead,  creator  of  New 
York  Central  Park,  and  organizer  of  the  Sanitary 
Commission;  Mr.  Ashburner  of  the  Geological 
Survey  corps ;  Boston  lawyers ;  San  Francisco 
journalists;  wit,  grace,  beauty.  We  exhausted. all 
the  horses  of  the  kingdom  of  Fremont,  and  created 
famine  in  our  path.  Lodgings  were  abundant, 
however,  for  whom  house  and  tent  did  not  hold,  the 
wide  expanse  of  heaven  safely  covered,  and  the 
hay-stack  warmed.  The  out-door  beds,  indeed, 
came  to  be  at  a  premium  ;  for  in  the  dry,  pure  air 
of  this  region,  there  is  not  only  no  harm,  but  actual 
health  in  sleeping  upon  the, ground  either  under 
tents  or  wholly  in  the  open  air.  The'  mountain 
pastures, — scattered  meadows  rich  at  this  season 
with  a  vernal  green, — furnish  mutton  sweeter  and 
richer  than  even  English  breeders  or  butchers  can 
give  you ;  the  forests  yielded  their  deer,  and  the 
rivers  their  trout  to  our  appetites ;  the  valley  has 
its  one  vegetable  garden, — so  that,  however  our  im 
mediate  successors  shall  fare,  we  have  had  no  com 
plaint  to  make  of  the  commissary  department. 

Our  companions  from  San  Francisco  proved  rich 


THE  NAME  OF  THE  VALLEY.        233 

in  song  and  sentiment;  good-nature  flowed  and 
overflowed ;  fatigue  was  forgotten  in  joke  and  rail 
lery  ;  and  digestion  aided  by  sturdy  laughter.  We 
"kept  marching  through  Georgia"  with  Sherman; 
we  serenaded  the  "sweet  lady"  till  she  must  have 
pined  for  a  chance  to  sleep ;  we  put  John  Brown's 
soul  over  its  familiar  road  at  least  twice  a  day ;  had  "a 
day  of  jubilo"  with  our  colored  brothers  equally  often; 
helped  "  the  turkey  gobbler  to  yank  the  grasshopper 
from  the  sweet  potato  vine  "  oftener  than  he  could 
possibly  have  been  hungry;  grew  steadily  barbaric 
and  dirty ;  laughed  at  dignity ;  and  voted  form  and 
ceremony  a  nuisance.  But  our  week  in  the  woods 
is  over,  and  we  turn  our  faces  towards  civilization 
and  conformity  to-morrow.  We  shall  be  glad  to 
see  the  washerwoman,  but  we  lament  that  no  more, 
save  in  memory,  shall  these  eyes  behold  these  scenes 
of  infinite  beauty  and  sublimity. 

The  name  that  has  attached  to  this  beautiful 
valley  is  both  unique  and  euphonious.  It  rolls  off 
the  tongue  most.liquidly  when  you  get  the  mas 
tery  of  its  pronunciation.  Most  strangers  render 
it  Yo-se-mite,  or  Yo-sem-ite ;  but  the  true  style  is 
Yo-sem-i-te.  It  is  Indian  for  Grizzly  Bear,  and 
probably  was  also  the  name  of  a  noted  chief,  who 
reigned  over  the  Indians  in  this,  their  favorite  re 
treat,  and  from  this  chief  comes  the  application  of 
the  name  to  the  locality  and  its  marvelous  scenery. 
The  foot  of  white  man  never  trod  its  limits,* — the 
eye  of  white  man  never  looked  upon  its  sublime 
wonders  till  1851,  when  he  came  here  in  pursuit  of 
the  irfdians,  with  whom  the  settlers  were  then  in 


234  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

war.  The  red  man  had  boasted  that  their  retreat 
was  secure ;  that  they  had  one  spot  which  their  en 
emies  could  never  penetrate ;  and  here  they  would 
gather  in  and  enjoy  their  spoils  unmolested.-  But 
to  the  white  man's  revenge  was  now  added  the 
stimulus  of  curiosity ;  and  hither  he  found  his  way, 
and,  coming  to  kill  and  exterminate,  he  has  staid, 
and  will  forever  henceforth  stay,  to  wonder  and 
worship. 

There  are  but  two  or  three  settlers  in  the  Valley* 
One,  Mr.  Hutchins,  keeps  a  hotel,  and  can  accom 
modate  a  dozen  to  twenty  people  at  once  very  com 
fortably,  and  is  both  enterprising  and  courteous. 
There  are  only  two  paths  out  of  the  Valley,  one  over 
the  mountain  to  the  right,  to  Coulterville,  and  the 
other  in  the  opposite  direction  to  Mariposa.  Each 
are  simple  trails  for  foot  passengers  and  horses ; 
and  all  baggage,  all  provisions,  lumbe;,  etc.,  have  to 
be  packed  in  on  the  backs  of  mules  and  horses. 
The  mountains  close  in  upon  the  river  so  nearly 
below  this  spot,  that  there  is  no  egress  or  ingress  in 
that  way,  except  for  foot  travelers,  and  only  with 
difficulty  to  them. 

Part  way  in  our  horseback  ride  into  the  Valley, 
we  stopped  for  a  day  at  a  solitary  ranch  on  the 
South  Fork  of  the  Merced,  and  had  generous  wel 
come  from  its  owner,  Mr.  Galen  Clark,  an  old  and 
intelligent  pioneer  in  this  region,  and  under  his  pi 
lotage  saw  the  reservation  of  Big  Trees  near  the 
border  line  of  Mariposa  and  Fresco  counties.  They 
are  but  a  few  miles  off  the  direct  road  to  the  Yo- 
semite,  and  while  of  the  same  character,  are  alike 


THE    SEQUOIA    GIGANTEA.  235 

more  numerous  and  larger  in  individual  specimens 
than  the  grove  of  Big  Trees  in  Calaveras  County. 
The  latter  are  the  ones  first  discovered  and  often 
described,  and  are  still  those  most  visited ;  but  they 
lie  in  an  adjoining  county,  and  farther  away  from 
the  route  we  took  to  the  Yosemite.  Other  similar 
groves  to  both  these  two  have  been  discovered 
within  a  year  or  two,  and  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
are  now  known  to  exist  among  the  forests  on  the 
western  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas  in  southern 
California.  They  occur  along  at  various  points 
through  some  hundred  miles ;  and  it  is  quite  likely 
that  many  more  still  will  be  found  in  the  same 
range  yet  farther  south. 

The  Big  Trees  we  visited  are  scattered  in  groups 
among  the  pine  and  cedar  forests  through  a  space 
of  several  miles.  The  collection  numbers  about 
six  hundred.  East  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  their 
pine  and  cedar  companions, — so  common  all  over 
these  hills  and  in  these  valleys, — would  be  the  won 
der  of  the  States  for  size  and  beauty ;  for  they  grow 
to  six  and  eight  and  even  ten  feet  in  diameter,  and 
to  two  hundred  and  fifty  and  three  hundred  feet  in 
hight.  But  these  mammoths  sink  to  pigmies  by  the 
side  of  the  Sequoia  Gigantea,  which  is  the  scientific 
name  applied  to  the  Big  Trees  proper.  They  swell 
to  thirty  and  forty  feet  in  diameter,  and  rarely  fall 
below  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  hight.  Among 
those  we  examined  are  six  each  over  thirty  feet  in 
diameter,  and  from  ninety  to  one  hundred  in  circum 
ference  ;  fifty  over  sixteen  feet  in  diameter,  and  two 
hundred  over  twelve  feet.  "The  Grizzly  Giant," 


236  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

which  is  among  the  largest  and  most  noteworthy, 
runs  up  ninety  feet  with  scarcely  perceptible  dimi 
nution  of  bulk,  and  then  sends  out  a  branch,  itself 
six  feet  in  diameter. 

But  they  are  even  more  impressive  for  their  beauty 
than  their  bigness.  The  bark  is  an  exquisitely  light 
and  delicate  cinnamon  color,  fluted  up  and  down 
the  long,  straight,  slowly-tapering  trunk,  like  Co 
rinthian  columns  in  architecture;  the  top,  resting 
like  a  cap  upon  a  high,  bare  mast,  is  a  perfect  cone ; 
and  the  evergreen  leaves  wear  a  bright,  light  shade, 
by  which  the  tree  can  be  distinguished  from  afar  in 
the  forest.  The  wood  is  a  deep,  rich  red  in  color, 
and  otherwise  marks  the  similarity  of  the  Big  Trees 
to  the  species  that  grows  so  abundantly  on  the  coast 
range  of  mountains  through. the  Pacific  States,  and 
known  generally  as  the  redwood.  Their  wood  is, 
however,  of  a  finer  grain  than  their  smaller  kindred, 
and  both  that  and  the  bark,  the  latter  sometimes  as 
much  as  twenty  inches  thick,  are  so  light  and  deli 
cate,  that  the  winds  and  snows  of  the  winter  make 
frequent  wrecks  of  the  tops  and  upper  branches. 
Many  of  the  largest  of  these  trees  are,  therefore, 
shorn  of  their  upper  works.  One  or  two  of  the 
largest  in  the  grove  we  visited  are  wholly  blown 
down,  and  we  rode  on  horseback  through  the  trunk 
of  an  old  one,  that  had  been  burned  out.  Many 
more  of  the  noblest  specimens  are  scarred  by  fires 
that  have  been  wantonly  built  about  their  trunks,  or 
swept  through  the  forests  by  accident.  The  trunk 
of  one  huge  tree  is  burned  into  half  a  dozen  little 
apartments,  making  capital  provision  for  a  game  of 


THE   AGE    OF   THE    BIG   TREES. 

hide  and  seek  by  children,  or  for  dividing  up  a  pic 
nic  of  older  growths  into  sentimental  couples. 

Wild  calculations  have  been  made  of  the  ages  of 
the  larger  of  these  trees ;  but  none  now  upon  the 
ground  date  back  farther  than  the  Christian  Era. 
They  began  with  our  Modern  Civilization ;  they 
were  just  sprouting  when  the  Star  of  Bethlehem 
rose  and  stood  for  a  sign  of  its  origin ;  they  have 
been  ripening  in  beauty  and  power  through  these 
Nineteen  Centuries ;  and  they  stand  forth  now,  a 
type  of  the  Majesty  and  Grace  of  Him  with  whose 
life  they  are  coeval.  Certainly  they  are  chief  among 
the  natural  curiosities  and  marvels  of  western  Amer 
ica,  of  the  known  world ;  and  though  not  to  be  com 
pared,  in  the  impressions  they  make  and  the  emo 
tions  they  arouse,  to  the  great  rock  scenery  of  the 
Yosemite,  which  inevitably  carries  the  spectator  up 
to  the  Infinite  Creator  and  Father  of  all,  they  do 
stand  for  all  that  has  been  claimed  for  them  in  won 
derful  greatness  and  majestic  beauty. 


LETTER     XXiil. 
THE    CHINESE:     GRAND    DINNER    WITH    THEM. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  August  18. 

I  HAVE  been  waiting  before  writing  of  the 
Chinese  in  these  Pacific  States,  till  my  experi 
ence  of  them  had  culminated  in  the  long-promised 
grand  dinner  with  their  leaders  and  aristocrats. 
This  came  last  night,  and  while  I  am  full  of  the 
subject, — shark's  fins  and  resurrected  fungus  digest 
slowly, — let  me  write  of  this  unique  and  impor 
tant  element  in  the  population  and  civilization  of 
this  region.  There  are  no  fewer  than  sixty  to 
eighty  thousand  Chinamen  here.  They  are  scat 
tered  all  over  the  States  and  Territories  of  the 
Coast,  and  number  from  one-eighth  to  one-sixth  of 
the  entire  population.  We  began  to  see  them  at 
Austin,  in  Nevada,  and  have  found  them  every 
where  since,  in  country  and  city,  in  the  woods, 
among  the  mines,  north  in  the  British  dominions, 
on  the  Coast,  in  the  mountains, — everywhere  that 
work  is  to  be  done,  and  money  gained  by  patient, 
plodding  industry.  They  have  been  coming  over 
from  home  since  1852,  when  was  the  largest  emi 
gration,  (twenty  thousand.)  A  hundred  thousand 


THE    CHINESE    HOUSE    SERVANTS.  239 

in  all  have  come,  but  thirty  thousand  to  forty  thou 
sand  have  gone  back.  None  come  really  to  stay; 
they  do  not  identify  themselves  with  the  country ; 
but  to  get  work,  to  make  money,  and  go  back. 
They  never,  or  very  rarely,  bring  their  wives.  The 
Chinese  women  here  are  prostitutes,  imported  as 
such  by  those  who  make  a  business  of  satisfying 
the  lust  of  men.  Nor  are  their  customers  alto 
gether  Chinese ;  base  white  men  patronize  their 
wares  as  well,  Some  of  these  women  are  taken  as 
"secondary''  wives  by  the  Chinese  residents,  and 
a  sort  of  family  life  established ;  but,  as  a  general 
rule,  there  are  no  families  among  them,  and  few 
children. 

The  occupations  of  these  people  are  various. 
There  is  hardly  anything  that  they  cannot  turn 
their  hands  to, — the  work  of  women  as  well  as 
men.  They  do  the  washing  and  ironing  for  the 
whole  population ;  and  sprinkle  the  clothes  as  they 
iron  them,  by  squirting  water  over  them  in  a  fine 
spray  from  their  mouths.  Everywhere,  in  village 
and  town,  you  see  rude  signs,  informing  you  that 
See  Hop  or  Ah  Thing  or  Sam  Sing  or  Wee  Lung 
or  Cum  Sing  wash  and  iron.  How  Tie  is  a  doctor, 
and  Hop  Chang  and  Chi  Lung  keep  stores.  They 
are  good  house  servants ;  cooks,  table-waiters,  and 
nurses ;  better,  on  the  whole,  than  Irish  girls,  and 
as  cheap, — fifteen  to  twenty-five  dollars  a  month 
and  board.  One  element  of  their  usefulness  as 
cooks  is  their  genius  for  imitation ;  show  them 
once  how  to  do  a  thing,  and  their  education  is  per 
fected  ;  no  repetition  of  the  lesson  is  needed.  But 


24O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

they  seem  to  be  more  in  use  as  house  servants  in 
the  country  than  the  city ;  they  do  not  share  the 
passion  of  the  Irish  girls  for  herding  together,  and 
appear  to  be  content  to  be  alone  in  a  house,  in  a 
neighborhood,  or  a  town. 

Many  are  vegetable  gardeners,  too.  In  this  even 
climate  and  with  this  productive  soil,  their  pains 
taking  culture,  much  hoeing  and  constant  watering, 
makes  little  ground  very  fruitful,  and  they  gather  in 
three,  four  and  five  crops  a  year.  Their  garden 
patches,  in  the  neighborhood  of  cities  and  villages, 
are  always  distinguishable  from  the  rougher  and 
more  carelessly  cultured  grounds  of  their  Saxon 
rivals.  The  Pacific  Rajlroad  is  being  built  by  Chi 
nese  labor;  several  thousand  Chinamen  are  now 
rapidly  grading  the  track  through  the  rocks  and 
sands  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas, — without  them,  in 
deed,  this  great  work  would  have  to  wait  for  years, 
or  move  on  with  slow,  hesitating  steps.  They  can, 
by  their  steady  industry,  do  nearly  as  much  in  a 
day,  even  in  this  rough  labor,  as  the  average  of 
white  men,  arid  they  cost  only  about  half  as  much, 
say  thirty  dollars  a  month  against  fifty  dollars.  Be 
sides,  white  labor  is  not  to  be  had  in  the  quantities 
necessary  for  such  a  greal;  job  as  this.  Good  farm 
hands  are  the  Chinese,  also  ;  and  in  the  simpler  and 
routine  mechanic  arts  they  have  proven  adepts ; — 
there  is  hardly  any  branch  of  labor  in  which,  under 
proper  tuition,  they  do  not  or  cannot  succeed  most 
admirably.  The  great  success  of  the  woolen  man 
ufacture  here  is  due  to  the  admirable  adaptation  and 
comparative  cheapness  of  Chinese  labor  for  the  de- 


CHEAPNESS    OF    CHINESE    LABOR.  24! 

tails.  They  are  quick  to  learn,  quiet,  cleanly  and 
faithful,  and  have  no  "off  days,"  no  sprees  to  get 
over.  As  factory  operatives  they  receive  twenty 
and  twenty-five  dollars  a  month,  and  board  them 
selves,  though  quarters  are  provided  for  them  on 
the  mill  grounds.  Fish,  vegetables,  rice  and  pork 
are  the  main  food,  which  is  prepared  and  eaten  with 
such  economy  that  they  live  for  about  one-third 
what  Yankee  laborers  can. 

Thousands  of  the  Chinese  are  gleaners  in  the 
gold  fields.  They  follow  in  crowds  after  the  white 
miners,  working  and  washing  over  their  deserted 
or  neglected  sands,  and  thriving  on  results  that 
their  predecessors  would  despise.  A  Chinese  gold 
washer  is  content  with  one  to  two  dollars  a  day ; 
while  the  wftite  man  starves  or  moves  on  disgusted 
with  twice  that.  A  very  considerable  portion  of 
the  present  gold  production  of  California  must  now 
be  the  worjc  of  Chinese  painstaking  and  moderate 
ambition.  The  traveler  meets  these  Chinese  miners 
everywhere  on  his  road  through  the  State ;  at  work 
in  the  deserted  ditches,  or  moving  from  one  to  an 
other,  on  foot  with  their  packs,  or  often  in  the  stage, 
sharing  the  seats  and  paying  the  price  of  their  aris 
tocratic  Saxon  rivals. 

Labor,  cheap  labor,  being  the  one  great  palpable 
need  of  the  Pacific  States, — far  more  indeed  than 
capital  the  want  and  necessity  of  their  prosperity, — 
we  should  all  say  that  these  Chinese  would  be  wel 
comed  on  every  hand,  their  emigration  encouraged, 
and  themselves  protected  by  law.  Instead  of  which, 
we  see  them  the  victims  of  all  sorts  of  prejudice 
10  16 


242  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

and  injustice.  Ever  since  they  began  to  come  here, 
even  now,  it  is  a  disputed  question  with  the  public, 
whether  they  should  not  be  forbidden  our  shores. 
The  do  not  ask  or  wish  for  citizenship ;  they  have 
no  ambition  to  become  voters ;  but  they  are  even 
denied  protection  in  persons  and  property  by  the 
law.  Their  testimony  is  inadmissible  against  the 
white  man;  and,  as  miners,  they  are  subject  to  a 
tax  of  four  dollars  a  month,  or  nearly  fifty  dollars  a 
year,  each,  for  the  benefit  of  the  County  and  State 
treasuries.  Thus  ostracized  and  burdened  by  the 
State,  they,  of  course,  have  been  the  victims  of 
much  meanness  and  cruelty  from  individuals.  To 
abuse  and  cheat  a  Chinaman ;  to  rob  him ;  to  kick 
and  cuff  him ;  even  to  kill  him,  have  been  things 
not  only  done  with  impunity  by  mean  and  wicked 
men,  but  even  with  vain  glory.  Terrible  are  some 
of  the  cases  of  robbery  and  wanton  maiming  and 
murder  reported  from  the  mining  districts.  Had 
"John," — here  and  in  China  alike  the  English  and 
Americans  nickname  every  Chinaman  "John," — a 
good  claim,  original  or  improved,  he  was  ordered  to 
"  move  on," — it  belonged  to  somebody  else.  Had 
he  hoarded  a  pile,  he  was  ordered  to  disgorge ;  and, 
if  he  resisted,  he  was  killed.  Worse  crimes  even 
are  known  against  them  ;  they  have  been  wantonly 
assaulted  and  shot  down  or  stabbed  by  bad  men, 
as  sportsmen  would  surprise  and  shoot  their  game 
in  the  woods,  There  was  no  risk  in  such  barbarity ; 
if  "John"  survived  to  tell  the  tale,  the  law  would 
not  hear  him  or  believe  him.  Nobody  was  so  low, 
so  miserable,  that  he  did  not  despise  the  Chinaman, 


OPPOSITION    TO    THE    CHINESE.  243 

and  could  not  outrage  him.  Ross  Browne  has  an 
illustration  of  the  status  of  poor  "John,"  that  is 
quite  to  the  point.  A  vagabond  Indian  comes  upon 
a  solitary  Chinaman,  working  over  the  sands  of  a 
deserted  gulch  for  gold.  "  Dish  is  my  land," — says 
he, — "you  pay  me  fifty  dollar."  The  poor  celestial 
turns,  deprecatingly,  saying :  "  Melican  man  (Amer 
ican)  been  here,  and  took  all, — no  bit  left."  Indian, 

irate  and  fierce, — "D Melican  man, — you  pay 

me  fifty  dollar,  or  I  killee  you." 

Through  a  growing  elevation  of  public  opinion, 
and  a  reactionary  experience  towards  depression, 
that  calls  for  study  of  the  future,  the  Californians 
are  beginning  to  have  a  better  appreciation  of  their 
Chinese  immigrants.  The  demand  for  them  is  in 
creasing.  The  new  State,  to  be  built  upon  manu 
factures  and  agriculture,  is  seen  to  need  their  cheap 
and  reliable  labor ;  and  more  pains  will  be  taken  to 
attract  them  to  the  country.  But  even  now,  a  man 
who  aspires  to  be  a  political  leader,  till  lately  a  pos 
sible  United  States  Senator,  and  the  most  widely 
circulated  daily  paper  of  this  city,  pronounce  against 
the  Chinese,  and  would  drive  them  home.  Their 
opposition  is  based  upon  the  prejudices  and  jeal 
ousy  of  ignorant  white  laborers, — the  Irish  partic 
ularly, — who  regard  the  Chinese  as  rivals  in  their 
field,  and  clothes  itself  in  that  cheap  talk,  so  com 
mon  among  the  bogus  democracy  of  the  East, 
about  this  being  a  "white  man's  country,"  and  no 
place  for  Africans  or  Asiatics.  But  our  national 
democratic  principle,  of  welcoming  hither  the  peo 
ple  of  every  country  and  clime,  aside,  the  white 


244  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

man  needs  the  negro  and  the  Chinaman  more  than 
they-him ;  the  pocket  appeal  Will  override  the  prej 
udices  of  his  soul, — and  we  shall  do  a  sort  of  rough 
justice  to  both  classes,  because  it  will  pay.  The 
political  questions  involved  in  the  negro's  presence, 
and  .pressing  so  earnestly  for  solution,  do  not  yet 
arise  with  regard  to  the  Chinese, — perhaps  will 
never  be  presented.  As  I  have  said,  the  Chinese 
are  ambitious  of  no  political  rights,  no  citizenship; 
— it  is  only  as  our  merchants  go  to  China  that  they 
come  here.  Their  great  care,  indeed,  is  to  be  bur- 
ied  at  home ;  they  stipulate  with  anxiety  for  that ; 
and  the  great  bulk  of  all  who  die  on  these  shores 
are  carried  back  for  final  interment. 

There  is  no  ready  assimilation  of  the  Chinese 
with  our  habits  and  modes  of  thought  and  action. 
Their  simple,  narrow  though  not  dull  minds  have 
run  too  long  in  the  old  grooves  to  be  easily  turned 
off.  They  look  down  even  with  contempt  upon  our 
newer  and  rougher  civilization,  regarding  us  bar 
baric  in  fact,  and  calling  us  in  their  hearts,  if  not  in 
speech,  "  the  foreign  devils."  And  our  conduct  to 
wards  them  has  inevitably  intensified  these  feel 
ings, — it  has  driven  them  back  upon  their  naturally 
self-contained  natures  and  habits.  So  they  bring 
here  and  retain  all  their  home  ways  of  living  and 
dressing,  their  old  associations  and  religion.  Their 
streets  and  quarters  in  town  and  city  are  China 
reproduced,  unalleviated.  Christian  missionaries 
make  small  inroa'ds  among  them.  There  is  an  in 
telligent  and  faithful  one  here  (Rev.  Mr.  Loomis,) 
who  has  an  attractive  chapel  and  school,  but  his  fol- 


CHINESE    RELIGION    AND    VICES.  245 

lowers  are  few,  and  not  rapidly  increasing.  But  he 
and  his  predecessors  and  assistants  have  been. and 
are  doing  a  good  work  in  teaching  the  two  diverse 
races  to  better  understand  each  other  and  in  show 
ing  them  how  they  can  be  of  value  to  one  another. 
They  have  been  the  constant  and  urgent  advocates 
of  the  personal  rights  of  the  Chinese. 

The  religion  of  these  people  is  a  cheap,  showy 
idolatry,  with  apparently  nothing  like  fanaticism  in 
it,  and  not  a  very  deep  hold  in  itself  on  their  na 
tures.  "Josh"  is  their  god  or  idol,  and  the  "Josh" 
houses  are  small  affairs,  fitted  up  with  images  and 
altars  a  good  deal  after  the  style  of  cheap  Catholic 
churches  in  Europe.  Their  whole  civilization  im 
presses  me  as  a  low,  disciplined,  perfected,  sensu 
ous  sensualism.  Everything  in  their  life  and  their 
habits  seems  cut  and  dried  like  their  food.  There 
is  no  sign  of  that  abandonment  to  an  emotion,  to 
a  passion,  good  or  bad;  that  marks  the  western 
races.  Their  great  vice  is  gambling ;  that  is  going 
on  constantly  in  their  houses  and  shops  ;  and  com 
mercial  women  and  barbaric  music  minister  to  its 
indulgence.  Cheap  lotteries  are  a  common  form 
of  this  passion.  Opium-smoking  ranks  next ;  and 
this  is  believed  to  be  indulged  in  more  extensively 
among  them  here  than  at  home,  since  there  is  less 
restraint  from  relatives  and  authorities,  and  the 
means  of  procuring  the  article  are  greater.  The 
wildly  brilliant  eye,  the  thin,  haggard  face,  and  the 
broken  nervous  system  betray  the  victim  to  opium- 
smoking;  and  all  tense,  all  excited,  staring  in  eye 
and  expression,  he  was  almost  a  frightful  object,  as 


246  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

we  peered  in  through  the  smoke  of  his  half-lighted 
little  room,  and  saw  him  lying  on  his  mat  in  the 
midst  of  his  fatal  enjoyment, 

But  as  laborers  in  our  manufactories  and  as  ser 
vants  in  our  houses,  beside  their  constant  contact 
with  our  life  and  industry  otherwise,  these  emi 
grants  from  the  East  cannot  fail  to  get  enlargement 
of  ideas,  freedom  and  novelty  of  action,  and  famil 
iarity  with  and  then  preference  for  our  higher  civil 
ization.  Slowly  and  hardly  but  still  surely  this 
work  must  go  on;  and  their  constant  going  back 
and  forth  between  here  and  China  must  also  trans 
plant  new  elements  of  thought  and  action  into  the 
home  circles.  Thus  it  is  that  we  may  hope  and 
expect  to  reach  this  great  people  with  the  influ 
ences  of  our  better  and  higher  life.  It  is  through 
modification  and  revolution  in  materialities,  in  man 
ner  of  living,  in  manner  of  doing,  that  we  shall 
pave  the  way  for  our  thought  and  our  religion. 
Our  missionaries  to  the  Five  Points  have  learned 
to  attack  first  with  soap  and  water  and  clean  clothes; 
The  Chinese  that  come  here  are.  unconsciously  be 
sieged  at  first  with  better  food  and  more  of  it  than 
they  have  at  home.  The  bath-house  and  the  res 
taurant  are  the  avant  couriers  of  the  Christian  civ 
ilization. 

The  Chinese  that  come  to  these  States  are  among 
the  best  of  the  peasantry  from  the  country  about 
Canton  and  Hong  Kong.  None  of  them  are  the 
miserable  coolies  that  have  been  imported  by  the 
English  to  their  Indian  colonies  as  farm  laborers. 
They  associate  themselves  here  into  companies, 


THE  CHINESE  VS.  THE  IRISH  AND  AFRICAN.    247 

based  upon  the  village  or  neighborhood  from  which 
they  come  at  home.  These  companies  have  head 
quarters  in  San  Francisco;  their  presidents  are 
men  of  high  intelligence  and  character ;  and  (heir 
office  is  to  afford  a  temporary  refuge  for  all  who  be 
long  to  their  bodies,  to  assist  them  to  work,  to  pro 
tect  them  against  wrong,  and  send  the  dead  back 
to  their  kindred  at  home.  Beside  these  organiza 
tions,  there  are  guilds  or  trade  associations  among 
the  Chinese  engaged  in  different  occupations.  Thus 
the  laundry-men  and  the  cigar-makers  have  organi 
zations,  with  heavy  fees  from  the  members,  power 
over  the  common  interests  of  the  business,  and  an 
occasional  festivity. 

The  impressions  these  people  make  upon  the 
American  mind,  after  close  observation  of  their 
habits,  are  very  mixed  and  contradictory.  They 
unite  to  many  of  the  attainments  and  knowledge 
of  the  highest  civilization,  in  some  of  which  they 
are  models  for  ourselves,  many  of  the  incidents  and 
most  of  the  ignorance  of  a  simple  barbarism.  It 
may  yet  prove  that  we  have  as  much  to  learn  from 
them  as  they  from  us.  Certainly  here  in  this  great 
field,  this  western  half  of  our  continental  Nation, 
their  diversified  labor  is  a  blessing  and  a  neces 
sity.  It  is  all,  perhaps  more  even,  than  the  Irish 
and  the  Africans  have  been  and  are  to  our  east 
ern  wealth  and  progress.  At  the  first,  at  least, 
they  have  greater  adaptability  and  perfection  than 
either  of  these  classes  of  laborers,  to  whom  we 
are  so  intimately  and  sometimes  painfully  accus 
tomed. 


248  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

There  are  quite  a  number  of  heavy  mercantile 
houses  here  in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese.  The 
managers  are  intelligent,  superior  men.  Their  busi 
ness  is  in  supplies  for  their  countrymen  and  in  teas 
and  silks  and  curiosities  for  the  Americans.  They 
import  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands,  even  millions, 
yearly  ;  and  their  reputation  for  fair  and  honest  deal 
ing  is  above  that  of  the  American  merchants  gen 
erally.  These  are  the  men,  with  the  presidents  of 
the  six  companies,  into  which  the  whole  Chinese 
population  is  organized,  as  I  have  described,  with 
whom  Mr.  Colfax  and  his  friends  dined  last  night. 
There  were  formalities  and  negotiations  enough  in 
the  preliminary  arrangements  of  the  entertainment 
to  have  sufficed  for  a  pacification  of  Kentucky  poli 
tics,  or  the  making  of  a  new  map  of  Europe  •  but 
when  these  were  finally  adjusted,  questions  of  pre 
cedence  among  the  Chinese  settled,  and  a  proper 
choice  made  among  the  many  Americans  who  were 
eager  to  be  bidden  to  the  feast,  all  went  as  smooth 
as  a  town  school  examination  that  the  teacher  has 
been  drilling  for  a  month  previous. 

The  party  numbered  from  fifty  to  sixty,  half  Chi 
nese,  half  white  folks.  The  dinner  was  given  in 
the  second  story  of  a  Chinese  restaurant,  in  a  lead 
ing  street  of  the  city.  Our  hosts  were  fine-looking 
men,  with  impressive  manners.  While  their  race 
generally  seems  not  more  than  two-thirds  the  size 
of  our  American  men,  these  were  nearly  if  not  quite 
as  tall  and  stout  as  their  guests.  Their  eyes  and 
their  faces  beamed  with  intelligence,  and  they  were 
quick  to  perceive  everything,  and  alert  and  aii  fait 


THE    CHINESE    "  PIGEON-ENGLISH.  249 

in  all  courtesies  and  politeness.  An  interpreter  was 
present  for  the  heavy  talking ;  but  most  of  our  Chi 
nese  entertainers  spoke  a  little  English,  and  we 
got  on  well  enough  so  far  as  that  was  concerned ; 
though  handshaking  and  bowing  and  scraping  and  a 
general  flexibility  of  countenance,  bodies  and  limbs 
had  a  very  large  share  of  the  conversation  to  per 
form.  Neither  here  nor  in  China  is  it  common  for 
the  English  and  Americans  to  learn  the  Chinese 
language.  The  Chinese  can  and  do  more  readily 
acquire  ours,  sufficiently  at  least  for  all  business  in 
tercourse.  Their  broken  or  "pigeon"  English,  as 
it  is  called,  is  often  very  grotesque,  and  always  very 
simple.  Here  is  a  specimen — a  "pigeon-English" 
rendering  of  "  My  name  is  Norval,"  etc. : — 

My  namee  being  Norval  topside  that  Glampian  Hillee, 
My  father  you  sabee  my  father,  makee  pay  chow-chow  he  sheep, 
He  smallo  heartee  man,  too  muchee  take  care  that  dolla,  gallo? 
So  fashion  he  wantchee  keep  my,  counta  one  piece  chilo  stope  he 

own  side, 

My  no  wantchee  long  that  largee  mandoli,  go  Knockee  alia  man ; 
Littee  turn  Joss  pay  my  what  thing  my  father  no  like  pay 
That  mourn  last  nightee  get  up  loune,  alia  same  my  hat, 
No  go  full  up,  no  got  square  ;  that  plenty  piece 
That  lobbie  man,  too  muchee  qui-si,  alia  same  that  tiger, 
Chop-chop  come  down  that  hillee,  catchie  that  sheep  long  that  cow, 
That  man,  custom  take  care,  too  muchie  quick  lun  away. 
My  one  piecie  owne  spec  eye,  look  see  that  ladlone  man  what  side 

he  walkee, 

Hi-yah  !     No  good  chancie,  findie  he,  lun  catchie  my  flew  : 
Too  piecie  loon  choon  lun  catchie  that  lobbie  man  !  he 
No  can  walkee  welly  quick,  he  pocket  too  much  full  up. 
So  fashion  knockee  he  largee. 

He  head  man  no  got  shutte  far 

My  knockie  he  head,  Ili-yah  !  my  No.  I  strong  man, 
Catchie  he  jacket,  long  he  toousa,  galo  !     You  likee  look  see  ? 

11* 


25O  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

My  no  likee  takee  care  that  sheep,  so  fashion  my  hear  you  got 

fightee  this  side. 

My  takee  one  servant,  come  your  country,  come  helpie  you, 
He  heart  all  same  cow,  too  muchie  fear  lun  away. 
Masquie,  Joss  take  care  pay  my  come  you  house. 

We  were  seated  for  the  dinner  around  little  round 
tables,  six  to  nine  at  the  table,  and  hosts  and  guests 
evenly  mixed.  There  was  a  profusion  of  elegant 
China  dishes  on  each  table ;  each  guest  had  two  or 
three  plates  and  saucers,  all  delicate  and  small. 
Choice  sauces,  pickles,  sweetmeats  and  nuts  were 
plentifully  scattered  about.  Each  guest  had  a  sau 
cer  of  flowers,  a  China  spoon  or  bowl  with  a  handle, 
and  a  pair  of  chop-sticks,  little  round  and  smooth 
ivory  sticks  about  six  inches  long.  Chi  Sing-Tong, 
President  of  the  San  Yup  Company,  presided  at  Mr. 
Colfax's  table. 

Now  the  meal  began.  It  consisted  of  three  dif 
ferent  courses,  or  dinners  rather,  between  which  was 
a  recess  of  half  an  hour,  when  we  retired  to  an  ante 
room,  smoked  and  talked,  and  listened  to  the  simple, 
rough,  barbaric  music  from  coarse  guitar,  viol  drum, 
and  violin,  and  meanwhile  the  tables  were  reset  and 
new  food  provided. 

Each  course  or  dinner  comprised  a  dozen  to 
twenty  different  dishes,  served  generally  one  at  a 
time,  though  sometimes  two  were  brought  on  at 
once.  There  were  no  joints,  nothing  to  be  carved. 
Every  article  of  food  was  brought  on  in  quart  bowls, 
in  a  sort  of  hash  form.  We  dove  into  it  with  our 
chop-sticks,  which,  well  handled,  took  up  about  a 
mouthful,  and,  transferring  this  to  our  plates,  worked 


THE  CHOP-STICKS,  AND  THE  FOOD.      2$  I 

the  chop-sticks  again  to  get  it  or  parts  of  it  to  our 
mouths.  No  one  seemed  to  take  more  than  a  single 
taste  or  mouthful  of  each  dish ;  so  that,  even  if  one 
relished  the  food,  it  would  need  something  like  a 
hundred  different  dishes  to  satisfy  an  ordinary  ap 
petite.  Some  of  us  took  very  readily  to  the  chop 
sticks  ;  others  did  not, — perhaps  were  glad  they 
could  not ;  and  for  these  a  Yankee  fork  was  pro 
vided,  and  our  Chinese  neighbors  at  the  table  were 
also  prompt  to  offer  their  own  chop-sticks  to  place 
a  bit  of  each  dish  upon  c  ir  plates.  But  as  these 
same  chop-sticks  were  also  used  to  convey  food 
into  the  mouths  of  the  Chinese,  the  service  did  not 
always  add  to  the  relish  of  the  food. 

These  were  the  principal  dishes  served  for  the 
first  course,  and  in  the  order  named :  Fried  shark's 
fins  and  grated  ham,  stewed  pigeon  with  bamboo 
soup,  fish  sinews  with  ham,  stewed  chicken  with 
water-cress,  sea-weed,  stewed  ducks  and  bamboo 
soup,  sponge  cake,  omelet  cake,  flower  cake  and 
banana  fritters,  bird-nest  soup,  tea.  The  meats 
seemed  all  alike ;  they  had  been  dried  or  preserved 
in  some  way ;  were  cut  up  into  mouthfuls,  and  de 
pended  for  all  savoriness  upon  their  accompani 
ments.  The  sea-weed,  shark's  fins  and  the  like  had 
a  glutinous  sort  of  taste;  not  repulsive,  nor  very 
seductive.  The  sweets  were  very  delicate,  but  like 
everything  else  had  a  very  artificial  flavor ;  every 
article,  indeed,  seemed  to  have  had  its  original  and 
real  taste  and  strength  dried  or  cooked  out  of  it, 
and  a  common  Chinese  flavor  put  into  it.  The 
bird-nest  soup  looked  and  tasted  somewhat  as  a 


252  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

very  delicate  vermicelli  soup  does.  The  tea  was 
delicious, — it  was  served  without  milk  or  sugar,  did 
not  need  any  such  amelioration,  and  was  very  re 
freshing.  Evidently  it  was  made  from  the  most 
delicate  leaves  or  flowers  of  the  tea  plant,  and  had 
escaped  all  vulgar  steeping  or  boiling. 

During  the  first  recess,  the  presidents  of  the  com 
panies, — the  chief  entertainers, — took  their  leave, 
and  the  merchants  assumed  the  post  of  leading 
hosts ;  such  being  the  fashion  of  the  people.  The 
second  dinner  opened  with  cold  tea,  and  a  white, 
rose-scented  liquor,  very  strong,  and  served  in  tiny 
cups,  and  went  on  with  lichens  and  a  fungus-like 
moss,  more  shark's  fins,  stewed  chestnuts  and  chick 
ens,  Chinese  oysters,  yellow  and  resurrected  from 
the  dried  stage,  more  fungus  stewed,  a  stew  of  flour 
and  white  nuts,  stewed  mutton,  roast  ducks,  rice 
soup,  rice  and  ducks'  eggs  and  pickled  cucumbers, 
ham  and  chicken  soup.  Between  the  second  and 
third  parts,  there  was  an  exchange  of  compliment 
ary  speeches  by  the  head  Chinaman  and  Mr.  Col- 
fax,  at  which  the  interpreter  had  to  officiate.  The 
third  and  last  course  consisted  of  a  great  variety  of 
fresh  fruits ;  and  the  unique  entertainment  ended 
about  eleven  o'clock,  after  a  setting  of  full  five 
hours.  The  American  resident  guests  furnished 
champagne  and  claret,  and  our  Chinese  hosts,  in 
variably  at  the  entrance  and  departure  of  each  dish, 
invited  us,  with  a  gracious  bow,  to  a  sip  thereof,  in 
the  which  they  all  faithfully  joined  themselves. 

The  dinner  was  unquestionably  a  most  magnifi 
cent  one  after  the  Chinese  standard;  the  dishes 


A   RESCUE    BY   THE    POLICE.  253 

were  many  of  them  rare  and  expensive  ;  and  every 
thing  was  served  in  elegance  and  taste.  It  was  a 
curious  and  interesting  experience,  and  one  of  the 
rarest  of  the  many  courtesies  extended  to  Mr.  Col- 
fax  on  this  coast.  But  as  to  any  real  gastronomic 
satisfaction  to  be  derived  from  it,  I  certainly  "did 
not  see  it."  Governor  Bross's  fidelity  to  the  great 
principle  of  "when  you  are  among  the  Romans  to 
do  as  the  Romans  do/'  led  him  to  take  the  meal 
seriatim,  and  eat  of  everything ;  but  my  own  per 
sonal  experience  is  perhaps  the  best  commentary 
to  be  made  upon  the  meal,  as  a  meal.  I  went  to 
the  table  weak  and  hungry  ;  but  I  found  the  one 
universal  odor  and  flavor  soon  destroyed  all  appe 
tite  ;  and  I  fell  back  resignedly  on  a  constitutional 
incapacity  to  use  the  chop-sticks,  and  was  sitting 
with  a  grim  politeness  through  dinner  number  "two, 
when  there  came  an  angel  in  disguise  to  my  relief. 
The  urbane  chief  of  police  of  the  city  appeared  and 
touched  my  shoulder :  "  There  is  a  gentleman  at  the 
door  who  wishes  to  see  you,  and  would  have  you 
bring  your  hat  and  coat."  There  were  visions  of 
violated  city  ordinances  and  "assisting"  at  the  po 
lice  court  next  morning.  1  thought,  too,  what  a 
polite  way  this  man  has  of  arresting  a  stranger  to 
the  city.  But,  bowing  my  excuses  to  my  pig-tail 
neighbor,  I  went  joyfully  to  the  unknown  tribunal. 
A  friend,  a  leading  banker,  who  had  sat  opposite  to 
me  during  the  evening,  and  had  been  called  out  a 
few  moments  before,  welcomed  me  at  the  street 

door  with :  "  B ,  I  knew  you  were  suffering,  and 

were  hungry — let  us  go  and  get  something  to  eat — 


254  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

a  good  square  meal ! "  So  we  crossed  to  an  Ameri 
can  restaurant;  the  lost  appetite  came  back;  and 
mutton  chops,  squabs,  fried  potatoes  and  a  bottle 
of  champagne  soon  restored  me.  My  friend  in 
sisted  that  the  second  course  of  the  Chinese  dinner 
was  only  the  first  warmed  over,  and  that  that  was 
the  object  of  the  recess.  However  that  might  be, — 
this  is  how  I  went  to  the  grand  Chinese  dinner,  and 
went  out,  when  it  was  two-thirds  over,  and  "got 
something  to  eat." 


LETTER    XXIV. 

THE    GREAT    THEME:     THfi    PACIFIC    RAILROAD. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  August  20, 

To  feel  the  importance  of  the  Pacific  Railroad, 
to  measure  the  urgency  of  its  early  completion,  to 
become  impatient  with  government  and  contractor 
at  every  delay  in  the  work,  you  must  come  across 
the  Plains  and  the  Mountains  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 
Then  you  will  see  half  a  Continent  waiting  for  its 
vivifying  influences.  You  will  witness  a  boundless 
agriculture,  fickle' and  hesitating  for  lack  of  the  reg 
ular  markets  this  would  give.  You  will  find  mineral 
wealth,  immeasurable,  locked  up,  wastefully  worked, 
or  gambled  away,  until  this  shall  open  to  it  abun 
dant  labor,  cheap  capital,  wood,  water,  science,  ready 
oversight,  steadiness  of  production, — everything 
that  shall  make  mining  a  certainty  and  not  a 
chance.  You  will  find  the  world's  commerce  with 
India  and  China  eagerly  awaiting  its  opportunities. 
You  will  see  an  illimitable  field  for  manufactures 
unimproved  for  want  of  its  stimulus  and  its  advan 
tages.  You  will  feel  hearts  breaking,  see  morals 
struggling  slowly  upward  against  odds,  know  that 
religion  languishes  ;  feel,  see  and  know  that  all  the 


2$  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

sweetest  and  finest  influences  and  elements  of  so 
ciety  and  Christian  civilization  hunger  and  suffer 
for  the  lack  of  this  quick  contact  with  the  Parent 
and  Fountain  of  all  our  national  life. 

It  is  touching  to  remember  that  between  Plains 
and  Pacific,  in  country  and  on  coast,  on  the  Colum 
bia,  on  the  Colorado,  through  all  our  long  journey, 
the  first  question  asked  of  us  by  every  man  and  wo 
man  we  have  met, — whether  rich  or  poor,  high  or 
humble, — has  been,  "  When  do  you  think  the  Pacific 
Railroad  will  be  done  ? "  or,  "  Why  do  n't  or  wo  n't 
the  government,  now  the  war  is  over,  put  the  sol 
diers  to  building  this  road?" — and  their  parting  ap 
peal  and  injunction,  as  well,  "Do  build  this  Pacific 
Road  for  us  as  soon  as  possible, — we  wait,  every 
thing  waits  for  that."  Tender-eyed  women,  hard- 
fisted  men, — pioneers,  or  missionaries,  the  martyrs 
and  the  successful, — all  alike  feel  and  speak  this  sen 
timent.  It  is  the  hunger,  the  prayer,  the  hope  of 
all  these  people.  Hunger  and  prayer  and  hope  for 
"Home,"  and  what  home  can  bring  them,  in  cheap 
and  ready  passage  to  and  from,  of  reunion  with  par 
ent  and  brother  and  sister  and  friend,  of  sight  of 
old  valley  and  mountain  and  wood,  of  social  influ 
ence,  of  esthetic  elevation,  of  worldly  stimulus  and 
prosperity.  "Home,"  they  all  here  call  the  East. 
It  is  a  touching  and '  pathetic,  though  almost  un 
conscious,  tribute.  Such  an  one  "is  going  home 
next  spring;"  "I  hope  to  go  home  another  year;" 
"When  I  was  home  last;"  "I  have  never  been 
home  since  I  came  out ; "  "  I  am  afraid  I  shall  never 
go  home  again;" — these  and  kindred  phrases  are 


THE  NATION'S  NEED.  257 

the  current  forms  of  speech.  Ho'me  is  not  here, 
but  there,  The  tnought  of  home  is  ever  rolled, 
like  a  sweet  morsel,  under  the  tongues  of  their 
souls. 

Here  is  large  appeal  both  to  the  sympathy  and 
foresight  of  the  eastern  States.  Here  is  present 
bond  of  union  and  means  for  perpetuating  it.  To 
build  the  railroad,  and  freshen  recollection  and  re 
new  association  of  the  original  emigrants,  and  to 
bind  by  travel  and  contact  the  children  here  with 
the  homes  and  lives  and  loves  of  their  parents  there : 
this  is  the  cheapest,  surest  and  sweetest  way  to  pre 
serve  our  nationality,  and  continue  the  Republic  a 
unit  from  ocean  to  ocean.  A  sad  and  severe  trial  will 
ensue  to  the  Union  if  a  generation  grows  up  here 
that  ''knows  not  Joseph."  The  centrifugal  forces 
will  ever  be  in  hot  action  between  the  far-separated 
eastern  and  western  sections  of  the  Nation.  First 
among  the  centripetal  powers  is  the  Pacific  Rail 
road,  and  every  year  of  its  delay  increases  tenfold 
its  burden ;  every  year's  postponement  weakens  in 
equal  degree  the  influences  here  by  which  it  shall 
operate, 

What  is  doing  to  supply  this  great  want  of  Pa 
cific  progress  and  civilization  and  national  unity? 
What  are  the  possibilities  and  probabilities  of  the 
great  continental  railway  ?  are  what  you  will  wish 
to  know  from  me.  Our  journey  has  lain  along  its 
most  natural  commercial  route ;  we  started  from  its 
eastern  terminus  on  the  Missouri  'border ;  we  kept 
in  the  main  line  of  population  and  travel,  which  it 
is  desirable  for  it  to  follow;  we  finished  our  ride 

17 


258  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

upon  its  beginnings  at  this  end  ;  and  we  have  every 
where  had  the  subject  forced  upon  our  thought,  and 
made  it  constant  study.  Many  of  the  obstacles  to 
the  great  work  grew  feeble  in  travel  over  its  line. 
Want  of  timber,  of  water,  of  coal  for  fuel ;  the 
steep  grades  and  high  ascents  of  the  two  great 
continental  rftnges  of  mountains  to  be  crossed,  the 
Rocky  and  the  Sierras ;  and  the  snows  they  will 
accumulate  upon  the  track  in  the  winter  months, — 
these  are  the  suggested  and  apparent  difficulties  to 
the  building  and  operating  of  the  Pacific  Railroad. 
There  is  plenty  of  good  timber  in  the  mountains ; 
and  the  soft  cotton-wood  of  the  Plains  can  be  kyan- 
ized  (hardened  by  a  chemical  process),  so  as  to  make 
sound  sleepers  and  ties.  There  are  sections  of 
many  miles,  even  perhaps  of  two  hundred,  over 
which  the  timber  will  have  to  be  hauled ;  but  the 
road  itself  can  do  this  as  it  progresses, — taking 
along  over  the  track  built  to-day  the  timber  and 
rails  for  that  to  be  built  to-morrow.  As  to  water, 
artesian  wells  are  sure  to  find  it  in  the  vacant  desert 
stretches,  which  are  neither  so  long  nor  so  barren 
of  possible  water  as  has  been  supposed 

The  fuel  question  is  perhaps  more  difficult  to 
solve  as  yet.  The  Sierras  will  furnish  wood  in 
abundance,  and  'cheaply,  for  all  the  western  end; 
we  know  there  is  coal  in  the  Rocky  Mountains ; 
and  we  were  told  almost  everywhere  over  the  en 
tire  line  that  it  had  been,  or  could  undoubtedly  be 
found, — in  Kansas,  on  the  Plains,  among  the  hills 
of  the  deserts.  But  suppose  the  supplies  of  food 
for  steam  have  to  be  carried  over  a  few  hundred 


ROUTES    OVER   THE    ROCKY    MOUNTAINS.       259 

miles  of  the  road,  east  and  west  from  the  Sierras 
and  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  that  is  not  so  hard  a 
matter, — certainly  nothing  to  daunt  or  hesitate  the 
enterprise.  We  shall  soon  learn,  too,  to  make 
steam  from  petroleum ;  and  that  is  easily  trans 
ported  for  long  distances ;  besides  which,  prospect 
ors  are  finding  it  everywhere  from  Missouri  to  Pa 
cific.  Build  the  road,  and  the  intermediate  country 
will  speedily  find  the  means  for  running  it. 

Now  as  to  difficulties  of  construction,  heavy 
grades  and  high  mountains,  and  the  winter  snows 
as  obstacles  to  continuous  use. 

The  first  third  of  the  line,  from  the  Missouri 
River  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  is  mere  baby-work. 
Three  hundred  men  will  grade  it  as  fast  as  the  iron 
can  be  laid.  It  is  a  level,  natural  roadway,  with 
very  little  bridging,  and  no  want  of  water.  It  is  a 
shame  all  this  section  is  not  finished  and  running 
already.  The  first  of  January,  1867,  ought  now  to 
be  the  limit  for  its  completion.  From  here  to  Salt 
Lake,  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  there  are  appar 
ently  no  greater  obstacles  to  be  overcome  than  your 
Western  Road  from  Springfield  to  Albany,  the  Erie 
and  the  Pennsylvania  Central  have  triumphantly 
and  profitably  surmounted.  There  are  various  con 
testing  routes  ;  northerly  by  the  North  Platte  and 
the  South  Pass ;  by  the  South  Platte  and  Bridger's 
Pass,  which  is  the  route  we  traveled  in  the  stage ; — 
or  more  direct  still,  from  Denver  through  the  pres 
ent  gold  mining  region  of  Colorado  by  Clear  Creek 
and  over  the  Berthoud  Pass ;  or  again  by  a  kindred 
route  to  the  last,  up  Boulder  Creek  and  over  Boul- 


260  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

der  Pass,  both  these  last  two  entering  the  "  Middle 
Park"  of  the  Mountains,  and  through  that  to  the 
head  waters  of  the  Salt  Lake  Basin.  The  Bertho.ud 
and  Boulder  Pass  routes  would  probably  involve 
higher  grades  and  more  rock  cutting,  and  in  winter 
deeper  snows  ;  but  they  would  pass  through  a  richer 
country,  avoid  the  deserts  of  the  north,  and  save  at 
least  one  hundred  miles  of  distance.  A  new  road 
for  the  overland  stages  is  this  very  season  being 
cut  through  the  Berthoud  Pass  route  by  the  help 
of  United  States  soldiers  from  Utah  ;  and  the  stage 
line  is  expected  to  be  transferred  to  it  next  spring. 
But  by  the  Bridger  or  South  Pass  routes,  the  rail 
road  can  surmount  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  with  the  greatest  ease.  Our  stage  teams 
trotted  up  the  hardly  perceptible  grades  by  the 
Bridger  route  without  any  effort.  Coming  down 
into  Salt  Lake  Valley,  there  would  be  rougher 
work;  but  there  are  several  considerable  streams 
along  whose  banks  the  track  could  be  brought,  I 
am  sure,  with  no  greater  labor  or  expense  than 
has  been  incurred  in  a  dozen  cases  by  our  eastern 
railroads. 

From  Salt  Lake  to  the  Sierra  Nevadas  are  two 
routes ;  southerly  through  the  center  of  Nevada, 
and  striking  Austin  and  Virginia  City,  the  centers 
of  the  silver  mining  region, — which  is  the  present 
stage  and  telegraph  route, — and.  northerly  by  the 
Humboldt  River.  The  former  would  pass  more 
directly  through  the  chief  present  and  prospective 
populations;  but  it  would  encounter  a  dozen  or 
fifteen  ranges  of  hills  to  be  crossed,  and  find  little 


OVER   THE    SIERRAS.  26 1 

wood  and  scant  water.  The  Humboldt  route  would 
be  more  cheaply  built,  and  goes  through  a  naturally 
better  country  as  to  wood,  water  and  fertility  of  soil. 
It  is  generally  conceded  to  be  the  true  natural  road 
way  across  the  Continent.  The  emigration  has 
always  taken  it.  If  the  railroad  is  built  through 
it,  Virginia  City  and  Austin  will  be  reached  by 
branches  dropping  down  to  them  through  their 
neighboring  valleys. 

Now  we  reach  the  California  border,  and  the 
toughest  part  of  the  work  of  the  railroad, — the  high- 
reaching,  far- spreading,  rock -fastened,  and  snow- 
covered  Sierra  Nevadas.  But  the  difficulties  here 
are  mitigated  by  plenty  of  water  and  timber,  and 
by  the  near  presence  of  an  energetic  population, 
and  are  already  being  practically  overcome  by  the 
energy  and  perseverance  of  the  California  Pacific 
Railroad  organization.  I  only  wish  the  East  would 
get  to  Salt  Lake  with  their  rail  so  soon  as  the  West 
can  and  will  with  theirs.  It  is  not  gratifying  to 
eastern  pride,  indeed,  to  see  how  much  more  Cali 
fornia,  with  its  scant  capital,  its  scarce  labor,  and 
its  depressed  industry  and  interests,  is  doing  to 
solve  this  great  practical  problem  of  the  conti 
nental  railway,  than  your  abounding  wealth  and 
teeming  populations  of  the  East,  with  a  great  net 
work  of  railroads  from  the  Atlantic,  all  needing  and 
professing  to  seek  an  outlet  west  to  the  Pacific 
Coast. 

Let  me  state  the  condition  of  the  work  on  each 
end  the  line. 

Congress  has  given  princely  bounties  to  the  en- 


262  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

terprise,  all  that  could  be  expected,  everything  that 
was  asked.  Government  bonds  are  loaned  to  it 
to  the  amount  of  sixteen  thousand  dollars  a  mile 
through  the  plains  and  forty-eight  thousand  dollars 
a  mile  in  the  mountains ;  besides  which  half  of  all 
the  land  each  side  of  the  road  for  twenty  miles 
deep  is  donated  outright  to  the  companies  doing 
the  work.  The  Union  Pacific  Railroad  company  is 
recognized  at  the  East,  and  the  Central  Pacific  Rail 
road  company  here,  as  entitled  to  this  bounty,  and 
are  respectively  authorized  ta  construct  the  road 
from  their  starting  points  until  they  meet.  The 
companies  are  further  authorized  to  issue  their  own 
bonds  to  an  equal  amount  to  those  granted  by  the 
government,  and  secure  them  by  a  first  mortgage ; 
the  government  loan  taking  the  second  place  in 
security. 

The  business  of  supplying  the  populations  of  Col 
orado,  Utah  and  Montana, — at  least  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  persons, — invites  the  speedy  con 
struction  of  the  road  from  the  East  This  busi 
ness  for  1 864  is  estimated  at  forty  million  pounds, 
and  for  1 865  at  two  hundred  millions,  and  employed 
last  year  nine  thousand  wagons,  fifty  thousand  cat 
tle,  sixteen  thousand  horses  and  mules  and  ten  thou 
sand  men  as  drivers,  laborers  and  guards ;  and  the 
sum  paid  for  freight  in  the  former  year  is  estimated 
by  one  authority  at  enough  to  build  the  railroad 
the  entire  distance  at  a  cost  of  forty-eight  thousand 
dollars  the  mile!  And 'during  the  months  of  May 
and  June,  this  year,  counting  both  the  emigration 
and  the  freight  trains,  there  passed  west  over  the 


THE  ROAD  OVER  THE  PLAINS.        263 

Plains  full  ten  thousand  teams  and  fifty  thousand 
to  sixty  thousand  head  of  stock,  according  to  data 
furnished  from  Fort  Laramie  and  the  junction  of 
the  overland  routes  on  the  Platte  River.  The  ship 
ment  of  supplies  for  the  United  States  troops  on 
the  Plains  and  in  the  Mountains  this  season  is  alone 
over  eleven  million  pounds. 

All  these  statistics  may  not  be  perfectly  accurate  ; 
but  they  have  a  substantial  basis  of  fact,  and  with 
such  generous  gifts  as  the  government  makes,  and 
with  such  large  railway  interests  behind  to  be  ben 
efited  by  farther  extension  of  railway  lines  to  the 
west,  they  would  seem  to  justify  and  to  demand  a 
rapid  construction  of  the  road  out  from  the  Mis 
souri  River,  especially  when  for  the  first  five  hun 
dred  to  six  hundred  miles  of  that  road,  there  is 
scarcely  more  required  than  to  scrape  a  place  in 
the  soft  soil  for  sleepers  and  ties  and  iron.  And 
yet,  though  three  to  four  years  have  passed  since 
the  company  accepted  the  bargain  of  the  govern 
ment  and  assumed  its  responsibilities,  not  a  mile 
of  the  main  road  is  running  from  the  Missouri  west. 
The  lower  branch  from  Kansas  City  is  open  to 
Lawrence,  forty  miles,  and  graded  to  Topeka,  sixty 
miles ;  but  from  Atchison  and  Omaha  there  is  no 
iron  down,  and  only  small  sections  graded  or  half 
graded. 

Is  it  said  that  by  the  government  flooding  the 
markets  with  better  classes  of  its  securities,  there 
was  no  sale  for  the  bonds  allotted  for  this  work,  and 
so  no  means  for  its  construction  ?  The  reply  is  that 
no  set  of  men  should  step  forward  to  accept  this 


264  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

largess  and  undertake  this  enterprise,  holding  such 
sure  profits  in  its  future,  that  have  not  at  least  a 
million  or  two  of  their  own  to  make  a  beginning 
with.  Has  the  war  absorbed  all  labor  and  capital 
during  these  years?  Other  railroads  have  been 
built  meantime,  and  labor  was  cheaper  on  the  Plains 
than  in  California.  Beside,  here  are  six  months 
since  the  war  ended,  and  the  end  witnesses  no 
marked  progress,  no  larger  activity,  than  the  begin 
ning. 

I  know  nothing  of  the  men  who  form  the  Pacific 
Railroad  Company  of  the  East;  I  suspect  their 
names  are  more  familiar  to  Wall  street  than  to  the 
West  or  the  railroad  world ;  but  I  do  know  that  all 
I  could  see  or  hear  of  them  and  their  work,  along 
the  route  of  the  continental  railway,  did  not  indi 
cate  either  the  earnestness  or  the  power  that  should 
accompany  their  position,  their  responsibilities  and 
their  opportunities.  After  leaving  the  Missouri 
River,  indeed,  they  offered  no  sign  of  life  except  in 
a  single  small  party  of  engineers  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
who  were  on  a  straggling  hunt  for  the  best  route 
through  the  Rocky  Mountains,  but  who  seemed  to 
have  no  proper  leadership,  and  no  clear  purpose, 
and  in  fact  confessed  that  the  company  had  no  chief 
engineer  worthy  the  name  or  position. 

Here  in  California,  however,  there  is  more  life 
and  progress.  Energy  and  capital  are  not  perhaps 
the  best  directed  possible ;  there  has  been  and  still 
is  somewhat  of  controversy  and  waste  of  power  as 
to  the  true  route ;  but  there  is  earnestness  and 
movement  of  the  right  sort,  and  the  track  is  fast 


THE  ROAD  OUT  FROM  CALIFORNIA.     265 

ascending  the  Sierras  on  its  progress  eastward.  It 
has  -no  immediate  way  business  to  tempt  it  but  the 
trade  of  Nevada  with  thirty  thousand  population, — 
much  less,  therefore,  than  that  which  invites  the 
laying  of  the  rails  across  the  prairies  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains, — but  this  business  has  constructed  and 
amply  paid  for  two  fine  toll-roads  over  the  Sierras, 
and  was,  until  a  few  days  ago,  building  two  railroads 
in  their  tracks.  There  being  free  water  carriage 
from  San  Francisco  to  Sacramento,  these  rival 
roads  (both  carriage  and  rail),  have  their  base  at 
the  latter  point,  and  branch  off  right  and  left  into 
the  mountains,  and  cross  the  summit  of  the  latter 
some  thirty  or  forty  miles  apart,  coming  together 
again  at  a  common  point  in  Nevada  on  the  other 
side,  namely,  Virginia  City.  The  distance  between 
Sacramento  and  Virginia  City  is  about  the  same, 
one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  by  each  road;  and 
their  rivalry  has  given  excellent  accommodations 
for  travel  and  traffic,  and  helped  to  push  forward 
the  railroad  tracks  on  both  lines. 

The  original  and  heretofore  most  popular  wagon 
road  was  that  by  Placerville  and  Lake  Tahoe,  over 
which  we  came  into  the  State,  as  already  described. 
The  railway  track  on  its  line  is  now  laid  about 
forty  miles  from  Sacramento  or  nearly  to  Placer 
ville,  which  is  among  the  foot-hills  of  the  moun 
tains.  During  the  "flush"  times  of  Nevada,  1862 
and  1863,  the  business  done  over  this  line  was 
immense;  in  the  latter  year  about  twelve  millions 
dollars  were  paid  for  freights  alone, — the  cost  of 
transportation  being  from  five  to  ten  cents  a 

12 


266  ACROSS    THE 'CONTINENT. 

pound, — and  the  tolls  on  teams,  received  by  the 
constructors  of  the  wagon  road,  amounted  to  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  charge  for  a  single 
team  is  about  thirty  dollars;  and  in  1864,  when  the 
business  was  much  less  than  before,  no  less  than 
seven  thousand  teams  passed  over  this  Placerville 
route ;  carrying  all  kinds  of  food  and  merchandise 
and  machinery  over  into  Nevada,  but  coming  back 
nearly  empty. 

As  showing  how  great  and  wasteful  was  and  still 
is  the  cost  of  doing  business  in  Nevada  under  such 
circumstances,  it  has  been  carefully  estimated  that 
the  famous  Gould  &  Curry  silver  mine  at  Virginia 
City  would  have  saved  two  millions  dollars  in  ex 
penses  in  a  single  year,  had  a  railroad  been  built 
and  running  over  the  mountains.  The  production 
of  the  mine  that  year  was  four  millions  and  a  half 
of  dollars,  but  its  expenses  absorbed  three  millions 
and  a  half,  leaving  only  one  million  profit  to  stock 
holders,  against  three  millions,  probably,  had  there 
been  ready  and  cheap  communication  with  the  San 
Francisco  markets. 

The  staging  and  freighting  over  these  mountain 
toll  roads  are  performed  in  the  most  perfect  style, 
however.  The  freight  wagons  are  bigger  and 
stronger  than  anything  ever  seen  in  the  East ;  gen 
erally  a  smaller  one  is  attached  as  a  tender  to  the 
main  wagon ;  ten  to  twelve  large  and  strong  mules 
or  horses,  in  fine  condition,  constitute  the  usual 
team ;  and  the  load  ranges  from  five  to  ten  tons. 
To  each  mule  in  the  best  teams  a  large  bell  is  at 
tached,  and  they  are  trained  to  keep  step  to  their 


TRAVEL  AND  TRAFFIC  OVER  THE  SIERRAS.    26/ 

music,  and  so  pull  and  move  uniformly.  Frequently 
the  road  will  be  filled  with  these  teams  for  a  quarter 
and  a  half  mile,  and  the  turning  out  for  them  is  the 
only  interruption  to  the  steady  trot  or  the  grand 
gallop  of  the  six-horse  stage  teams  that,  attached  to 
the  best  of  Concord  coaches,  usually  loaded  with 
passengers,  go  half-flying  over  these  well-graded 
mountain  roads,  three  to  four  each  way  daily.  The 
stage  horses  are  sleek  and  fat,  gay  as  larks,  changed 
every  ten  miles,  and  do  their  work  as  if  they  really 
loved  it.  The  Placerville  road  is  watered  through 
out  nearly  its  whole  line  by  sprinkling  carts,  in  the 
same  way  as  the  streets  of  a  city  are  wet  in  the  dry 
summer  season  ;  and  luxurious  as  this  seems  and  is, 
— for  the  dust  is  otherwise  most  fearful, — it  is  found 
to  be  the  cheapest  way  of  keeping  the  road  itself  in 
good  repair.  When  dry,  the  heavy  teams  cut  up 
the  track  most  terribly. 

/"But  these  horses  are  running  away  with  the  loco 
motive,  which  is  my  main  theme  to-day.  The  rival 
of  the  Placerville  route,  though  opened  since,  has 
won  the  title  and  the  government  bounty  of  the 
Pacific  Railroad,  and  has  this  season  pushed  its  iron 
track  ahead  of  the  former,  and  so  henceforth  must 
have  every  advantage  for  both  traffic  and  travel. 
Indeed,  within  a  few  days,  its  friends  have  bought 
a  controlling  interest  in  the  railway  section  of  the 
Placerville  route,  and  will  probably  put  a  veto  upon 
the  construction  of  the  latter  beyond  that  town.  It 
is  called  the  Dutch  Flat  and  Donner  Lake  route,  as 
well  as  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad,  and  lies  to  the 
north  of  the  other.  Its  line  was  selected  by  the  late 


268  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

Mr.  T.  D.  Judah,  who  has  left  a  very  enviable  fepu- 
tation  in  California  both  for  personal  integrity  and 
professional  ability  as  an  engineer,  after  a  thorough 
examination  of  other  lines  and  passes  over  the 
mountains;  and  having  gained,  mainly  by  his  in 
dorsement,  the  approval  of  Congress,  and  the  sup 
port  and  bounty,  also,  of  San  Francisco  and  Sacra 
mento,  it  has  readily  achieved  these  decided  advan 
tages  over  its  rival,  which  has  been  sustained  only 
by  private  capital  and  the  profits  of  its  toll-road. 
Mr.  Judah,  who  died  after  having  established  the 
general  route  of  the  Pacific  Road  and  secured  its 
indorsement  by  Congress,  was  an  assistant  engineer 
in  the  construction  of  your  Connecticut  River  Rail 
road  in  Massachusetts,  and  married  a  Greenfield 
lady.  His  reputation  is  one  of  the  main  bulwarks 
of  the  friends  of  his  road,  in  the  bitter  controversy 
that  has  raged  between  them  and  the  advocates  of 
the  Placerville  route ;  and,  though  this  contest  now 
seems  nearly  over  under  the  triumph  of  the  upper 
route,  many  of  the  most  mtelligent  citizens  of  the 
State  still  contend  that  the  Placerville  line  is  the 
easiest  and  safest  for  the  railroad  track.  Our  own 
superficial  examination  of  the  two  routes  tended  to 
this  conclusion,  also  ;  but  it  is  too  late,  now,  to  argue 
that  question.  The  Judah  or  Dutch  Flat  Route  has 
got  the  name  and  the  means,  and  is  being  pushed 
over  the  mountains  with  commendable  vigor  and 
rapidity ;  and  it  is  wise  for  California  and  the  coun 
try 'alike  to  sustain  it,  and  secure  its  completion  as 
early  as  possible.  This  accomplished,  the  other  may 
and  probably  will  be  extended  over  into  Nevada,  and 


TRACK   ON   THE   SUMMIT   OF   THE   SIERRAS.     269 

already  there   is  agitation  to   secure  government 
bounty  in  its  behalf. 

Our  party  made  a  very  profitable  and  interesting 
excursion  over  the  route  of  the  Central  Pacific  Road 
from  Sacramento  to  Donner  Lake,  on  the  eastern 
slope  of  the  mountains,  by  special  train  and  coaches, 
and  along  the  working  sections  on  horseback.  The 
track  is  graded  and  laid,  and  trains  are  running  to 
the  new  town  of  Colfax  (named  for  the  Speaker), 
which  is  fifty-six  miles  from  Sacramento.  Grading 
is  now  in  active  progress  on  the  next  two  sections, 
to  Dutch  Flat,  twelve  miles,  and  the  Crystal  Lake, 
thirteen  miles  farther,  with  a  force  of  about  four 
thousand  laborers,  mostly  Chinese.  Though  these 
sections  are  through  a  very  rough  and  rocky  coun 
try,  the  work  will  certainly  be  done  to  Dutch  Flat 
by  spring,  and  Crystal  Lake  early  next  fall.  Then 
the  rails  are  within  fifteen  miles  of  the  summit  of 
the  Sierras.  The  toughest  job  of  the  whole  line 
lies  in  these  fifteen  miles  up,  and  the  three  or  four 
miles  down  to  Donner  Lake,  on  the  other  side. 
This  must  hang  on  for  two  or  three  years,  it  seems 
to  me ;  there  will  be  some  tunneling,  probably,  and 
.much,  heavy  rock-cutting;  for  several  miles  along 
the  summit,  which  is  seven  thousand  feet  above  the 
sea  level,  the  road  must  apparently  be  cut  into  a 
wall  of  solid  rock,  and  then  be  covered  by  a  roof  to 
keep  off  the  snows; — but  the  later  surveys  soften 
the  anticipated  severity  of  the  work,  and  the  com 
pany  and  its  contractors  are  sanguine  of  mastering 
all  the  difficulties  of  the  summit  sections  in  two 
years. 


2/O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

The  wagon-road  goes  down  from  the  summit  to 
Donner  Lake  at  the  rate  of  about  four  hundred  feet 
to  the  mile,  and  the  railway  track  will  have  to  be 
wound  in  and  out  on  the  mountain  sides  for  ten  or 
more  miles  in  order  to  get  ahead  two  or  three,  and 
reach  the  level  of  the  lake,  whence  it  can  be  run 
readily  down  by  the  Truckee  River  into  the  valleys 
and  plains  of  Nevada.  The  road  ascends  the  moun 
tains  on  this  side  by  a  very  regular  and  nearly  uni 
form  grade,  never  exceeding  one  hundred  and  five 
feet  to  the  mile,  which  is  less  than  the  highest 
grades  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  to 
which  the  act  of  Congress  limits  this  road.  In 
going  down  the  other  side,  no  grade  will  exceed 
one  hundred  and  five  feet,  and  after  reaching  Don 
ner  Lake  the  grade  will  be  reduced  to  forty  feet. 
But  the  company  does  not  purpose  to  wait  for  the 
full  construction  of  the  track  over  the  summit  be 
fore  pushing  the  work  on  the  line  beyond.  While 
that  is  advanced  as  fast  as  possible,  they  will  com 
mence  next  spring  at  Donner  Lake  and  proceed 
down  the  mountains  and  out  into  and  through  Ne 
vada  as  rapidly  as  may  be,  eager  to  absorb  as  much 
of  the  whole  enterprise,  and  meet  the  road  coming 
west  at  a  point  as  far  east  as  they  can. 

So  far  the  company  have  used  none  of  the  United 
States  bonds  or  lands  granted  by  Congress  in  aid 
of  the  work.  Some  two  and  a  half  millions  in  these 
bonds  are  now  due.  The  company  can  issue  an 
equal  amount  of  their  own  bonds  guaranteed  by  a 
preceding  or  first  mortgage ;  but  none  of  these, 
also,  have  yet  been  used.  They  also  have  available 


THE  FINANCIAL  STRENGTH  OF  THE  ROAD.  2/1 

a  million  and  a  half  of  other  bonds  on  which  the 
State  of  California  pays  seven  per  cent,  interest  in 
gold  for  twenty  years.  Here  are  six  millions  and  a 
half  of  good  securities  now  on  hand  for  prosecuting 
the  work,  besides  what  is  earned  as  the  road  pro 
gresses,  and  the  power  to  anticipate  the  issue  of 
their  own  first  mortgage  bonds  at  the  rate  of  forty- 
eight  thousand  dollars  for  a  mile  of  mountains  and 
sixteen  thousand  dollars  for  a  mile  of  plain,  for  one 
hundred  miles  in  advance  of  construction.  The 
work  so  far  has  been  done  out  of  about  a  million  of 
paid-up  stock,  and  subscriptions  of  the  county  of 
Sacramento  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  the 
county  of  Placer  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  and  of  San  Francisco  of  four  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars,  and  the  profits  of  that  part  of  the  road 
in  running  order.  Of  these  sums,  nearly  half  a 
million  is  still  left,  and  as  the  road  has  gone  so  far 
as  to  substantially  secure  a  monopoly  of  all  the 
business  over  the  mountains,  the  profits  on  its  com 
pleted  section  will  be  constantly  increasing.  Then, 
besides  all  this,  there  are  between  eighteen  and 
nineteen  millions  of  the  twenty  millions  capital 
stock  of  the  road,  yet  unsubscribed  for.  Sometime, 
though  not  at  present,  this  will  be  paying  property ; 
and  it  may  suffice  even  now  for  the  profits  of  the 
contractors.  The  company  thus  feel  strong  finan 
cially,  and  though  much  of  their  securities  are  not 
just  now  marketable  except  at  a  discount,  they  are 
confident  there  need  be  no  further  delay  for  the 
lack  of  means,  and  are  increasing  their  working 
force  upon  the  road  as  fast  as  laborers  can  be  had. 


2/2  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

All  the  Chinese  that  offer,  or  that  can  be  encouraged 
to  emigrate  from  home,  are  employed,  and  it  is  ex 
pected  that  five  thousand  will  be  at  work  on  the 
road  before  the  present  season  closes. 

These  details  are  very  long,  but  I  trust  are  not 
altogether  tedious  or  uninteresting.  The  theme 
presses  itself  upon  us  more  deeply,  more  solemnly, 
than  any  one  other  offered  by^our  journey  and  its 
observations.  It  is  pathetic  and  painful,  as  I  said 
in  the  beginning,  in  the  solicitude  and  anxiety  it 
awakens  here  among  the  people,  and  which  we  can 
not  help  but  share.  There  is  really  nothing  unrea 
sonable  in  demanding  that  rails  should  be  laid  and 
trains  running  over  half  the  line  between  the  Pacific 
Ocean  and  the  Missouri  River  in  two  years  and  a 
half,  over  two-thirds  of  it  another  year,  and  the  en 
tire  distance,  unbroken,  in  five  years.  There  are 
short  sections  in  the  mountains  that  may  require 
three,  or  even  five  years  to  work  them  out ;  but  the 
great  bulk  of  the  way  can  be  graded  and  laid  with 
rails  in  three  years.  The  California  Pacific  railroad 
company,  led  by  some  of  the  best  men  in  the  State, 
with  Ex-Governor  Stanford  for  president,  say,  calmly 
and  distinctly,  in  their  annual  report  just  published, 
that  they  will  take  their  completed  line  into  Salt 
Lake  City  in  three  years  from  date.  I  believe  they 
can  and  will  do  it,  with  anything  like  an  easy  money 
and  labor  market.  And  it  is  just  as  practicable  for. 
the  road  from  the  East  to  reach  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  in  twelve  or  eighteen  months,  and  to  span 
these  mountains  in  two  years  more. 

Next  spring  should  see  as  many  men  at  work  on 


FINAL   APPEAL   FOR   THE    RAILROAD.  2/3 

the  eastern  line  as  there  will  be  on  the  western  ;  the 
fall,  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  along  its  entire  route  ; 
1867  should  count  fifty  thousand  shovels  and  picks 
and  drills,  leveling  the  paths  for  this  national  high 
way;  and  in  1868  the  hungry  hearts  of  these  peo 
ple  of  the  Pacific  States  should  dance  to  the  music 
of  a  hundred  thousand  strong, — music  sweeter  far 
and  holier  even  than  that  of  all  the  martial  bands 
of  the  new  Republic. 

Men  of  the  East!  Men  at  Washington!  You 
have  given  the  toil  and  even  the  blood  of  a  million 
of  your  brothers  and  fellows  for  four  years,  and 
spent  three  thousand  million  dollars,  to  rescue  one 
section  of  the  Republic  from  barbarism  and  from 
anarchy ;  and  your  triumph  makes  the  cost  cheap. 
Lend  now  a  few  thousand  of  men,  and  a  hundred 
millions  of  money,  to  create  a  new  Republic ;  to 
marry  to  the  Nation  of  the  Atlantic  an  equal  if  not 
greater  Nation  of  the  Pacific.  Anticipate  a  new 
sectionalism,  a  new  strife,  by  a  triumph  of  the  arts 
of  Peace,  that  shall  be  even  prouder  and  more  reach 
ing  than  the  victories  of  your  Arms.  Here  is  pay 
ment  of  your  great  debt ;  here  is  wealth  unbounded ; 
here  the  commerce  of  the  world ;  here  the  comple 
tion  of  a  Republic  that  is  continental ;  but  you  must 
come  and  take  them  with  the  Locomotive ! 
12*  X8 


LETTER    XXV. 

COUNTRY     EXCURSIONS  :      THE     GE%SERS  :     VINE 
YARDS,   AND    AGRICULTURE. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  August  28. 

PERHAPS  this  is  the  least  pleasant  month  of  the 
twelve  to  see  San  Francisco  and  California  in, — the 
dryest  and  dreariest  and  dustiest,  when  Nature  is 
at  rest ;  yet  we  find  more  to  see,  more  delightful 
journeys  to  make  into  the  interior,  than  we  have 
time  for.  In  every  direction,  there  is  a  novelty,  a 
surprise  for  us ;  everywhere  Nature  makes  strange 
and  fascinating  combinations,  presents  herself  in 
new  forms,  outrages  all  our  pre-educated  ideas  as 
to  her  laws  and  habits,  and  yet  everywhere,  as  ever, 
is  impressive  and  beautiful.  These  valleys  inside 
the  Coast  range  of  mountains  about  San  Francisco 
are  particularly  rich  in  novelty  and  beauty,  and  have 
been  the  theater  of  several  very  delightful  excur 
sions  by  our  party  since  we  came  back  from  the 
Yosemite.  They  form  the  garden  of  California, 
agriculturally,  and  their  nearness  to  the  central 
market,  and  their  fertile  soil,  have  made  them  to 
be  the  best  improved  and  the  most  steadily  pro 
gressive  in  wealth  and  population  of  all  the  interior 
sections  of  the  State. 


THE  NATURAL  DIVISIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA.     2/5 

California,  as  you  will  see  by  the  map,  is  like  a 
great  basin  or  1bowl,  between  two  ranges  of  moun 
tains.  Along  the  Coast  runs  one  ;  and  the  Sierras, 
two  hundred  miles  east,  separate  her  from  Nevada. 
The  Golden  Gate  at  San  Francisco  lets  in  the  ocean 
and  out  her  interial  waters  ;  to  the  north  from  that' 
city  stretches  the  Sacramento  River  and  its  tributa 
ries  through  a  plain  two  hundred  miles  long  and 
forty  to  fifty  wide  ;  to  the  south,  the  San  Joaquin 
(pronounced  San  Walk-in)  repeats  the  same ;  and 
the  two,  with  all  the  drainage  of  the  interior,  all  the 
inside  waste  of  both  ranges  of  mountains,  meet 
above  San  Francisco,  and  spread  out  into  the  wide 
inland  bays,  twenty  to  fifty  miles  long  and  four  to  ten 
wide,  that  give  to  that  city  its  beauty,  its  wealth, 
and  its  commerce  ;  and  delaying  here,  they  leisure 
ly  balance  accounts  with  the  ocean  through  its  nar 
row  gateway. 

San  Francisco  hangs  over  the  edge  of  its  chief- 
est,  largest  bay,  like  the  oriole  balancing  on  the 
crest  of  his  long,  pocket  nest ;  peeping  around  the 
corner  into  the  Pacific,  but  opening  wide  eyes  north 
and  south  and  east,  to  the  interior.  To  the  north 
and  south,  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin  valleys 
are  shut  in  by  the  two  ranges  of  mountains  chas- 
sezing  into  each  other.  And  this  is  California. 
The  side  valleys  from  the  Sierras  are  the  field  of 
the  gold  diggings  and  the  quartz  mining;  their 
mates  over  the  way,  inside  the  Coast  range,  an4 
among  its  foot-hills,  squeezing  first  and  longest  the 
spongy  clouds  from  the  ocean,  get  the  most  rain, 
and  are  the  kindest  to  the  husbandman ;  while  the 


2/6  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

broad,  intermediate  plains  along  the  main  rivers, 
wait  somewhat  on  irrigation  or  a  betfer  understand 
ing  of  the  mysteries  of  their  wealth.  Every  year's 
experience  goes  more  and  more  to  prove,  however, 
that  nature  here  does  'not  forbid  successful  agricul 
ture  in  withholding  rain  for  six  months  of  the  year. 
The  laws  of  her  increase  are  peculiar ;  but  they  are 
not  hard.  The  vine  does  not  need  irrigation,  nor 
the  other  fruits ;  and  the  small  grains  are  natural 
to  hill  and  plain  alike :  and  all  ripen  richly  under 
the  stimulus  of  the  winter  and  spring  moisture. 

Across  the  bay  from  San  Francisco  lies  its  sub 
urb,  Oakland,  home  of  many  of  its  best  people. 
Here  is  one  of  the  Coast  valleys  I  have  mentioned, 
thick  with  low-branching  evergreen  oaks,  and  soft 
er  in  sky  and  air  than  the  city ;  here  is  quiet  of 
country  and  cultivation  of  town;  here  grows  the 
"garden  sauce"  of  the  metropolis;  here  are  its 
best  seminaries  and  its  hopeful  college ;  here,  too, 
Fred  Law  Olmsted  has  planned  on  a  large  scale, 
and  with  novelties  of  arrangement  befitting  the 
novelties  of  climate  and  verdure,  a  grand  rural  cem 
etery;  and  here  Major  Ralph  W.  Kirkham,  whom 
Springfield  sent  to  West  Point  a  generation  ago, 
and  has  been  proud  of  ever  since,  has  the  most  ele 
gant  house  and  home  to  be  found  anywhere  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  Down  the  bay  on  the  San  Francisco 
side,  through  the  San  Jose  (Ozay)  valley  and  its 
villages  and  its  culture,  and  around  its  base,  and 
back  on  -the  Alameda  and  Oakland  shore,  forms 
one  of  the  most  interesting  of  our  late  excursions. 
It  is  a  sweep  of  a  hundred  miles ;  but  railroads  at 


THE   SAN  JOSE   VALLEY.  277 

beginning  and  end, — the  arms  which  San  Francisco 
is  crooking  around  her  intervening  waters  to  stretch 
out,  by  way  of  Stockton,  to  Sacramento,  and  there 
welcome  the  continental  cars, — helped  us  to  make 
it  leisurely  in  a  day. 

Many  an  elegant  country  home,  with  orchards 
and  gardens  acres  wide,  showed  the  overflow  of  San 
Francisco  wealth,  as  we  rode  down  the  San  Jose 
valley ;  miles  of  wheat  fields  proved  how  extensive 
dfre  the  plans  of  agriculture  here;  busy  and  pros 
perous  villages  told  of  their  sure  and  steady  profit, 
— quite  in  contrast  with  the  desolated  look  of  most 
of  the  mining  towns  of  the  interior ;  old  and  tumble 
down  mission-houses  and  churches,  built  of  mud 
and  stone,  without  wood  or  nails,  and  neighbor 
ing  orchards  of  ancient  pear  and  fig  trees,  marked 
the  old  homes  of  Catholic  and  Spanish  missionaries 
among  the  Indians ;  modern  convents  and  colleges 
holding  up  the  cross,  proved  the  presence  of  the 
same  element,  flexible  in  its  character,  and  now 
offering  perhaps  the  best  education  of  the  Coast  to 
the  children  of  our  Puritan  emigrants  ; — everywhere 
was  novelty,  on  every  side  beauty,  though  most  of 
the  hills  were  bare  and  brown ;  and  only  the  low, 
scraggy  oaks,  making  park  of  field,  and  the  culti 
vated  orchard  fed  the  eye  with  green.  The  plain 
was  everywhere  yellow  with  the  stubble  of  grain,  or 
the  wild  oats  that  grow  spontaneously  on  unoccu 
pied  hill  and  meadow  all  over  California,  or  brown 
with  the  dry  grass,  that  is  hay  ungathered,  and  rich\ 
feed  still  for  cattle  and  horse ;  and  the  hills,  still  of 
those  beautifully  rounded  shapes,  that  I  first  recog- 


2/8  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

nized  in  Nevada,  and  are  ever  a  surprise  and  a  de 
light  to  the  eye,  wearing  the  same  colors  of  yellow 
and  bro\rn,  blending  into  each  other,  and  soft  and 
rich  under  the  bloom  of  a  haze  that  belongs  to  the 
season  and  the  shore  ; — there  was  no  avail  in  strug 
gling  against  education  and  experience, — here  was 
beauty  and  exhilarating  life  without  rain  for  many 
months,  without  forests,  without  rivers,  without 
green  grass,  or  flowers. 

Similar  and  prolonged  experience,  with  sorrfe 
added  and  fresh  elements,  came  from  a  rapid  three 
days'  journey  northerly  from  San  Francisco  to  see 
the  Geysers,  or  famous  boiling  springs,  and  the 
neighboring  valleys  famous  for  farms  and  fruits 
and  vineyards.  Captain  Baxter's  steamer  "Peta- 
luma"  took  us  up  through  San  Puebla  Bay,  one  of 
the  widenings  of  the  outcoming  waters  of  the  inte 
rior,  and  Petaluma  Creek,  to  the  thriving  town  of 
the  latter  name.  I  took  a  sharp  look  at  it  because 
of  its  persistent  desire  to  steal  your  neighbor,  Rev. 
Mr.  Harding,  away  from  Longmeadow,  for  its  own 
minister ;  and  found  it  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
and  pleasant  of  California  towns,  at  the  foot  of  one 
of  the  richest  agricultural  regions  of  the  Coast. 
The  rest  of  the  day  we  rode  through  dryest  dust 
and  reposing  nature,  up  through  the  Petaluma  val 
ley,  and  over  into  that  of  the  Russian  River,  famous 
and  peculiar  here  for  its  especial  kindliness  to  our 
Indian  corn,  also  for  its  toothsome  grouse,  first 
cousin  to  our  partridge ;  stopping  at  the  village  of 
Healdsburg  for  brass  band,  speeches  and  supper, 
and,  after  a  rapid  hour's  drive  by  moonlight,  at  a 


A    RARE    WHIP    AND    A    RARE    DRIVE.  2/Q 

solitary  ranch  under  the  Geyser  mountain  for  the 
night. 

Sunrise  the  next  morning  found  us  whirling  along 
a  rough  road  over  the  mountains  to  the  especial 
object  of  the  excursion.  But  the  drive  of  the  morn 
ing  was  the  more  remarkable  feature.  We  supposed 
the  Plains  and  Sierras  had  exhausted  possibilities 
for  us  in  that  respect.  But  they  were  both  outwit 
ted  here.  For  bold  daring  and  brilliant  execution, 
our  driver  this  morning  must  take  the  palm  of  the 
world,  I  verily  believe.  The  distance  was  twelve 
miles,  up  and  down  steep  hills,  through  enclosed 
pastures ;  the  vehicle  an  open  wagon,  the  passen 
gers  six,  the  tiorses  four  and  gay,  and  changed  once ; 
and  the  driver  Mr.  Clark  T.  Foss,  our  landlord  over 
night  and  owner  of  the  route.  For  several  miles 
the  road  lay  along  "the  hog's  back,"  the  crest  of  a 
mountain  that  ran  away  from  the  point  or  edge, 
like  the  sides  of  a  roof,  several  thousand  feet  to 
the  ravines  below ;  .  so  narrow  that,  pressed  down 
and  widened  as  much  as  was  possible,  it  was  rarely 
over  ten  or  twelve  feet  wide,  and  in  one  place  but 
seven  feet ;  and  winding  about  as  the  crest  of  the 
hill  ran ; — and  yet  we  went  over  this  narrow  cause 
way  on  the  full  gallop. 

After  going  up  and  down  several  mountains,  hold 
ing  rare  views  of  valleys  and  ravines  and  peaks, 
under  the  shadows  and  mists  of  early  morning,  we 
came  to  a  point  overlooking  the  Geysers.  Far  be 
low  in  the  valley,  we  could  see  the  hot  steam  pour 
ing  out  of  the  ground ;  and  wide  was  the  waste 
around.  The  descent  was  almost  perpendicular; 


28O  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

the  road  ran  down  sixteen  hundred  feet  in  the  two 
miles  to  the  hotel,  and  it  had  thirty-five  sharp  turns 
in  its  course :  "  Look  at  your  watch/'  said  Mr.  Foss, 
as  he  started  on  the  steep  decline;  crack,  crack 
went  the  whip  over  the  heads  of  the  leaders,  as  the 
sharp  corners  came  in  sight,  and  they  plunged  with 
seeming  recklessness  ahead, — and  in  nine  minutes 
and  a  half,  they  were  pulled  up  at  the  bottom,  and 
we  took  breath.  Going  back,  the  team  was  an  hour 
and  a  quarter  in  the  same  passage.  When  we 
wondered  at  Mr.  Foss  for  his  perilous  and  rapid 
driving  down  such  a  steep  road,  he  said,  "Oh, 
there's  no  danger  or  difficulty  in  it, — all  it  needs  is 
to  keep  your  head  cool,  and  the  leaders  out  of  the 
way."  But  nevertheless  I  was  convinced  it  not  only 
does  require  a  quick  and  cool  brain,  but  a  ready  and 
strong  and  experienced  hand.  The  whole  morning 
ride  was  accomplished  in  two  hours  and  a  quarter ; 
and  though  everybody  predicts  a  catastrophe  from 
its  apparent  dangers,  Mr.  Foss  has  driven  it,  after 
this  style,  for  many  years,  and  never  had  an  accident. 
The  Geysers  are  exhausted  in  a  couple  of  hours. 
They  are  certainly  a  curiosity,  a  marvel ;  but  there 
is  no  element  of  beauty;  there  is  nothing  to  be 
studied,  to  grow  into  or  upon  you.  We  had  seen 
something  similar,  though  less  extensive,  in  Neva 
da  ;  and  like  a  three-legged  calf,  or  the  Siamese 
twins,  or  P.  T.  Barnum,  or  James  Gordon  Bennett, 
once  seeing  is  satisfactory  for  a  life-time.  They 
are  a  sort  of  grand  natural  chemical  shop  in  disor 
der.  In  a  little  ravine,  branching  off  from  the  val 
ley,  is  their  principal  theater.  The  ground  is  white 


THE    GEYSERS HELL    EMBODIED.  28 1 

and  yellow  and  gray,  porous  and  rotten,  with  long 
ancf  high  heat.  The  air  is  also  hot  and  sulphurous 
to  an  unpleasant  degree.  All  along  the  bottom  of 
the  ravine  and  up  its  sides,  the  earth  seems  hollow 
and  full  of  boiling  water.  In  frequent  little  cracks 
and  pin  holes  it  finds  vent;  and  out  of  these  it 
bubbles  and  emits  steam  like  so  many  tiny  tea 
kettles  at  high  tide.  In  one  place  the  earth  yawns 
wide,  and  the  "  Witches'  Caldron/'  several  feet  in 
diameter,  seethes  and  spouts  a  black,  inky  water, 
so  hot  as  to  boil,  an  egg  instantly,  and  capable  of 
reducing  a  human  body  to  pulp  at  short  notice. 
The  water  is  thrown  up  four  to  six  feet  in  height, 
and  the  general  effect  is  very  devilish  indeed.  The 
"Witches'  Caldron"  is  reproduced  a  dozen  times 
in  miniature, — handy  little  pools  for  cooking  your 
breakfast  and  dinner,  if  they  were  only  in  your 
kitchen  or  back  yard.  Farther  up  you  follow  a 
purring  noise,  exactly  like  that  of  a  steamboat  in 
progress,  and  you  come  to  a  couple  of  volumes  of 
steam  struggling  out  of  tiny  holes,  but  mounting 
high  and  spreading  wide  from  their  force  and  heat. 
You  grow  faint  with  the  heat  and  smells ;  your 
feet  seem  burning;  and  the  air  is  loaded  with  a 
mixture  of  salts,  sulphur,  iron,  magnesia,  soda,  am 
monia,  all  the  chemicals  and  compounds  of  a  doc 
tor's  shop.  You  feel  as  if  the  ground  might  any 
moment  open,  and  let  you  down  to  a  genuine  hell. 
You  recall  the  line  from  Milton,  or  somebody : 
"  Here  is  hell, — myself  am  hell."  And,  most  dread 
ful  of  all,  you  lose  ail  appetite  for  the  breakfast  of 
venison,  trout  and  grouse  that  awaits  your  return 


282  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

to  the  hotel.  So  you  struggle  out  of  the  ravine, 
every  step  among  tiny  volumes  of  steam,  and  over 
bubbling  pools  of  water,  and  cool  and  refresh  your 
self  among  the  trees  on  the  mountain  side  beyond. 
Then,  not  to  omit  any  sight,  you  go  back  through 
two  other  ravines  where  the  same  phenomena  are 
repeated,  though  less  extensively.  All  around  by 
the  hot  pools  and  escape  valves  are  delicate  and 
beautiful  little  crystals  of  sulphur,  and  soda,  and 
other  distinct  elements  of  the  combustibles  below, 
taking  substance  again  on  the  surface. 

All  this  wonder-working  is  going  on  day  and 
night,  year  after  year,  answering  to-day  exactly  to 
the  descriptions  of  yesterday  and  five  years  ago. 
Most  of  the  waters  are  black  as  ink,  and  some  as 
thick ;  others  are  quite  light  and  transparent ;  and 
they  are  of  all  degrees  of  temperature  from  one 
hundred  and  fifty  to  five  hundred.  Near  by,  too, 
are  springs  of  cool  water;  some  as  cold  as  these 
are  hot,  almost.  The  phenomena  carries  its  own 
explanation  ;  the  chemist  will  reproduce  for  you  the 
same  thing,  on  a  small  scale,  by  mixing  sulphuric 
acid  and  cold  water,  and  the  other  unkindred  ele 
ments  that  have  here,  in  nature's  laboratory,  chanced 
to  get  together.  Volcanic  action  is  also  most  prob 
ably  connected  with  some  of  the  demonstrations 
here. 

There  must  be  utility  in  these  waters  for  the  cure 
of  rheumatism  and  other  blood  and  skin  diseases. 
The  Indians  have  long  used  some  of  the  pools  in 
this  way,  with  results  that  seem  like  fables.  One 
of  the  pools  has  fame  for  eyes ;  and,  with  chemi- 


NAPA  VALLEY:  ITS  SPRINGS  AND  BATHS.    283 

cal  examination  and  scientific  application,  doubtless 
large  benefits  might  be  reasonably  assured  among 
invalids  from  a  resort  to  these  waters.  At  present 
there  is  only  a  rough  little  bathing-house,  collecting 
the  waters  from  the  ravine,  and  the  visitors  to  the 
valley,  save  for  curiosity,  are  but  few.  It  is  a  wild, 
unredeemed  spot,  all  around  the  Geysers  ;  beautiful 
with  deep  forests,  a  mountain  stream,  and  clear  air. 
Game,  too,  abounds ;  deer  and  grouse  and  trout 
seemed  plentier  than  in  any  region  we  have  visited. 
There  is  a  comfortable  hotel ;  but  otherwise  this 
valley  is  uninhabited.  The  entire  region  for  two 
miles  in  length  and  half  a  mile  in  breadth,  in 
cluding  all  the  springs,  is  owned  by  one  man,  who 
offers  it  for  sale.  Who  would  speculate  in  a  mun 
dane  hell? 

Back  on  the  route  of  our  morning  ride,  we  then 
turned  off  into  the  neighboring  valley  of  Napa, 
celebrated  for  its  agricultural  beauty  and  produc 
tiveness,  and  also  for  its  Calistoga  and  Warm 
Springs,  charmingly  located,  the  one  in  the  plains 
and  the  other  close  among  mountains,  and  con 
stituting  the  fashionable  summer  resorts  for  San 
Franciscans.  The  water  is  sulphurous ;  the  bath 
ing  delicious,  softening  the  skin  to  the  texture  of  a 
babe's ;  the  country  charming :  but  we  found  both 
establishments,  though  with  capacious  head-quar 
ters  and  numerous  family  cottages,. almost  deserted 
of  people. 

Past  farms  and  orchards,  through  parks  of  ever 
green  oak  that  looked  as  perfect  as  if  the  work  of 
art,  we  stopped  at  the  village  of  Napa,  twin  and 


284  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

rival  to  Petaluma,  and  from  here,  crossing  another 
spur  of  the  Coast  range,  we  entered  still  another 
beautiful  and  fertile  valley,  that  of  Sonoma. 

Here  are  some  of  the  largest  vineyards  of  north 
ern  California,  and  we  visited  that  of  the  Buena 
Vista  Vinicultural  society,  under  the  management 
of  Colonel  Haraszthy,  a  Hungarian.  This  estate 
embraces  about  five  thousand  acres  of  land,  a  prince 
ly-looking  house,  large  wine  manufactory  and  cel 
lars,  and  about  a  million  vines,  foreign  and  native. 
The  whole  value  of  its  property  is  half  a  million 
dollars,  including  one  hundred  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  wine  and  brandies  ready  and  in  prepara 
tion  for  market.  We  tasted  the  liquors,  we  shared 
the  generous  hospitality  of  the  estate,  and  its  super 
intendent  ;  but  we  failed  to  obtain,  here  or  else 
where,  any  satisfactory  information  as  to  the  boasted 
success  of  wine-making,  yet,  in  California,  The 
business  is  still  very  much  in  its  infancy,  indeed ; 
and  this  one  enterprise  does  not  seem  well-managed. 
Nor  do  we  find  the  wines  very  inviting ;  they  par 
take  of  the  general  character  of  the  Rhine  wines 
and  the  Ohio  Catawba ;  but  are  rougher,  harsh  and 
heady, — needing  apparently  both  some  improve 
ment  in  culture  and  manufacture,  and  time  for  soft 
ening.  I  have  drank,  indeed,  much  better  California 
wine  in  Springfield  than  out  here. 

The  vine  and  wine  interest  is  already  a  great  one, 
and  is  rapidly  growing.  Nearly  all  parts  of  the 
State  are  favorable  to  it ;  the  deserted  and  exhausted 
gold  fields  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  valleys  and  hill 
sides,  as  well  as  the  valleys  of  the  Coast  range  and 


CALIFORNIA   WINES    VS.  CHAMPAGNE.  285 

the  southern  mountains.  Down  in  Los  Angelos 
County,  this  season,  though  the  grapes  are  twice  as 
abundant  as  last  year,  the  price  is  treble,  because 
of  the  increased  preparations  for  their  manufacture, 
and  the  profit  that  is  sure  to  be  realized  from  the 
business  when  well-conducted.  The  Buena  Vista 
vineyards  have  been  making  part  of  their  wLae  into 
champagne  the  last  year,  and  gratifying  results  are 
confidently  predicted. 

But  as  doctors  never  take  their  own  medicines, 
the  true  Californian  is  slow  to  drink  his  own  wine. 
He  prefers  to  import  from  France,  and  to  export  to 
the  East;  and  probably  both  kinds  are  improved 
by  the  voyages.  More  French  wines  are  drank 
in  California,  twice  over,  than  by  the  same  popu 
lation  in,  any  part  of  the  eastern  States.  Cham 
pagne  is  mother's  milk,  indeed,  to  all  these  people ; 
they  start  the  day  with  "a  champagne  cock-tail," 
and  go  to  bed  with  a  full  bottle  of  it  under  their 
ribs.  At  all  the  bar-rooms,  it  is  sold  by  the  glas^ 
the  same  as  any  other  liquor,  and  it  answers  to 
the  general  name  of  "wine"  with  both  drinker  and 
landlord. 

From  Sonoma,  over  another  hill,  to  our  steam 
boat  of  three  days  ago,  and  by  that  back  in  a  few 
hours  to  the  city.  These  three  days  seem  long, 
they  have  been  so  rich  in  novelty  and  knowledge, 
in  beauty  of  landscape,  in  acquaintanceship  with 
the  best  riches  of  California.  These  valleys  are, 
indeed,  agricultural  jewels,  and  should  be  held  as 
prouder  possessions  by  the  State  than  her  gold 
mines.  The  small  grains,  fruits  and  vegetables  are 


286  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

* 

their  common,  chief  productions ;  and  the  yields 
are  enormous,%hile  the  culture  and  care  are  com 
paratively  light. 

In  California,  from  December  till  April  and  May 
is  seed-time ;  from  June  till  September  is  harvest. 
No  barns  are  needed  for  housing  stock ;  they  can 
roam  safely  in  pasture  for  the  whole  year.  Neither 
are  they  needed  for  the  harvests ;  threshing  and 
^  winnowing  are  done  as  well  in  the  open  field, — 
sometimes,  indeed,  by  the  very  machine  that  reaps, 
and  at  the  same  time, — and  the  grain  is  put  in  bags, 
and  thus  transported  to  the  market ;  all  at  leisure, 
for  there  is  no  rain  nor  dew  to  spoil  the  crop ;  it 
lies  safely  in  any  shape  in  the  open  field.  There  is 
no  hot,  hurrying  work  with  planting  and  harvest 
ing,  as  in  the  East ;  no  dodging  of  showers ;  no 
lost  days  during  the  long  summer.  Fifty  bushels 
of  wheat  to  the  acre  is  more  common  here  than 
twenty-five  in  the  best  wheat  fields  of  the  States, 
Jfcd  seventy-five  and  eighty  bushels  are  often  ob 
tained.  Barley,  which  is  another  leading  crop, 
yields  still  greater  return ;  an  authentic  instance  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  bushels  to  the  acre  is  be 
fore  me ;  and  crops  that  would  astound  an  Eastern 
farmer  are  often  gathered  from  the  droppings  of  a 
last  year's  harvest.  A  single  farmer  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  San  Jose,  with  a  twelve  hundred  acre 
farm,  has  this  year  gathered  in  over  fifty  thousand 
bushels  of  wheat;  and  the  county  of  Santa  Clara, 
in  which  this  farm  is  located,  lying  south  fifty  miles 
from  San  Francisco,  and  in  between  two  sections 
of  the  Coast  range  of  mountains,  presents  the  fol- 


AGRICULTURAL    RICHES    OF    CALIFORNIA.      28/ 

lowing  aggregates  of  agriculture:  acres  fenced  in, 
two  hundred  and  ten  thousand;  cultivated,  one 
hundred  and  thirty  thousand;  grape  vines,  eight 
hundred  and  seventy-nine  thousand  nine  hundred ; 
apple  trees,  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand ; 
crops  this  year, — thirty-five  thousand  tons  of  hay, 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  bushels  of 
wheat,  one  hundred  thousand  of  barley,  sixty  thou 
sand  each  of  oats  and  potatoes,  and  four  thousand 
of  cojn. 

Nothing  is  wanting  to  the  agriculture  of  Califor 
nia  but.  a  steady  and  extensive  market ;  she  sends 
north  to  Washington  and  the  British  Provinces; 
east  to  Nevada  and  Idaho ;  south  to  Mexico ;  is 
even  trying  China  on  the  west,  and  with  steam  navi 
gation  hopes  for  large  market  for  wheat  there; — 
but  most  of  her  soil  is  still  unbroken,- — her  produc 
tive  power  is  but  suggested,  not  proven,  undevel 
oped.  And  still  she  buys  half  her  butter  in  the 
East !  Visit  ranches  in  the  interior,  that  boast  their 
cattle  by  the  tens  of  thousands,  and  the  chances  are 
two  to  one  that  neither  milk  nor  butter  can  be  had 
for  love  or  money ! 


LETTER    XXVI. 

OF    SAN    FRANCISCO:     BUSINESS    MATTERS. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  August  26. 

THIS  is  a  very  ridiculous  and  repulsive  town,  in 
some  aspects,  and  a  very  fascinating  and  commend 
able  one,  in  others,  both  materially  and  morally, 
physically  and  esthetically.  Its  youth  is  its  apology 
in  one  regard,  its  wonder  and  its  merit  on  the  other. 
The  location  must  have  been  chosen  for  its  water 
and  not  its  land  privileges.  It  is  set  upon  the  in 
side  of  a  range  of  the  purest  sand-hills,  six  or  seven 
miles  wide,  blown  up  from  the  ocean,  and  still  blow 
ing  up,  between  it  and  the  bay.  The  main  business 
streets  are  in  the  hollows,  or  on  the  flat  land,  made 
by  pulling  down  the  sand  from  the  hills.  But  go 
out  of  these  in  any  direction,  and  you  are  con 
fronted  by  steep  hills.  Some  of  these  are  cut 
through,  or  being  cut  through,  others  «.re  scaled,  to 
make  room  for  the  spread  of  the  town.  The  happy 
thought  of  winding  the  streets  about  their  sides, 
which  would  have  made  a  very  picturesque  and 
certainly  get-around-able  town,  came  too  late.  If 
but  the  early  San  Franciscans  had  thought  of  Bos 
ton,  and  followed^  the  cow-paths,  what  a  unique,  nice 


THE    SAND-HILLS    OF    SAN    FRANCISCO.  289 

town  they  would  have  made  of  this !  Only  I  fear 
there  never  was  even  an  estray  cow  on  these  virgin 
sand-hills,  as  innocent  of  verdure  as  a  babe  of  sor 
row  or  vice.  The  modern  American  straight  line 
style  was  the  order,  no  matter  what  was  in  front; 
and  the  result  is  that  going  about  San  Francisco  is 
all  collar'  and  breeching  work  for  man  and  beast. 
The  consequence  is,  also,  there  are  only  two  or 
three  streets  that  you  can  think  of  driving  out  of 
town  on.  The  only  way  to  get  up  and  down  the 
others  with  a  horse,  is  to  go  zig-zag  from  one  side 
to  the  other.  Some  of  the  principal  residence 
streets  are  after  this  fashion,  however  ;  I  found  our 
friend,  Rev.  Horatio  Stebbins,  of  the  Unitarian 
church  here,  holding  on  by  main  strength  to  a  side 
hill  that  runs  up  at  an  angle  of  something  like  thirty 
degrees.  And  so  they  run  up  and  down,  and  the 
city  is  straggling  loosely  over  these  hills  for  several 
miles  in  all  directions.  Some  of  the  highest  of  the 
knobs  are  being  cut  down,  and  this  leaves  the  early 
houses, — that  is  those  built  four  or  five  years  ago, — 
away  up  one  hundred  feet  or  more  in  the  air,  and 
reached  by  long  flights  of  steep  steps. 
.  Wherever  the  hill-sides  and  tops  are  fastened 
with  houses  or  pavements,  or  twice  daily  seduced 
with  water,  there  the  foundations  are  measurably 
secure ;  and  the  deed  of  the  purchaser  means  some 
thing  ;  but  all  elsewhere,  all  the  open  lots  and  un- 
paved  paths  are  still  undergoing  the  changing  and 
creative  process.  The  daily  winds  swoop  up  the 
soil  in  one  place  and  deposit  it  in  another  in  great 
masses,  like  drifts  of  snow.  You  wnl  often  find  a 
13  19 


2QO  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

suburban  street  blocked  up  with  fresh  sand ;  and 
the  owner  of  vacant  lots  needs  certainly  to  pay 
them  daily  visit  in  order  to  swear  to  title ;  and  the 
chance  is  anyway  that,  between  one  neon  and 
another,  he  and  his  neighbor  will  have  changed 
properties  to  an  indefinite  depth.  Incidental  to  all 
this,  of  course,  are  clouds  of  sand  and  dust  through 
all  the  residence  and  open  parts  of  the  city,  making 
large  market  for  soap  and  clothes-brushes,  and  put 
ting  neat  housekeepers  quite  in  despair  for  their 
furniture.  Naturally  enough,  there  is  a  looseness 
on  the  subject  of  cleanliness,  that  would  shock 
your  old-fashioned  New  England  housewives. 

But  then,  as  compensation,  the  winds  give  health, 
— keeping  the  town  fresh  and  clean ;  and  the  hills 
offer  wide  visions  of  bay  and  river,  and  islands  and 
sister  hills, — way  out  and  on  with  varying  life  of 
shipping,  and  manufactures,  and  agriculture ;  and, 
hanging  over  all,  a  sky  of  azure  with  broad  hori 
zons.  Oceanward  is  Lone  Mountain  Cemetery, 
covering  one  of  the  hills  with^its  scrawny,  low- 
running,  live  oak  shrub  tree,  and  its  white  monu 
ments,  conspicuous  among  which  are  the  erections 
to  those  martyrs  to  both  western  and  eastern  civili 
zation  and  progress, — Broderick,  the  mechanic  and 
senator,  James  King  of  William,  the  editor,  and 
Baker,  the  soldier.  Here  is  the  old  Mission  quar 
ter,  there  the  "soldiers'  camp,  yonder,  by  the  water, 
the  bristling  fort,  again  the  conspicuous  and  gener 
ous  Orphan  Asylum,  monument  of  the  tenderness 
and  devotion  of  the  worrien  of  the  city,  and  to  the 
left  of  that  still,  the  two  Jewish  Cemeteries,  each 


PERPETUAL    GARDENS    IN    THE    CITY.  2QI 

with  its  appropriate  and  tasteful  burial  chapel.  No 
other  American  city  holds  in  its  very  center  such 
sweeping  views  of  itself  and  its  neighborhood. 

Then  the  little  yards  around  the  dwellings  of  the 
prosperous,  even  of  those  of  moderate  means,  are 
made  rich  with  all  the  verdure  of  a  green-house, 
with  only  the  cost  of  daily  watering.  The  most 
delicate  of  evergreens;  roses  of  every  grade  and 
hue ;  fuchsias  vigorous  and  high  as  lilac  bushes ; 
nasturtiums  sweeping  over  fences  and  up  house 
walls ;  flowering  vines  of  delicate  quality,  unknown 
in  the  East;  geraniums  and  salvias,  pansies  and 
daisies,  and  all  the  kindred  summer  flowers  of  New 
York  and  New  England,  grow  and  blossom  under 
these  skies,  throughout  the  whole  year, — the  same 
in  December  and  January  as  in  June  and  August, 
• — with  a  richness  and  a  profusion  that  are  rarely 
attained  by  any  out  door  culture  in  the  East.  The 
public  aqueducts  furnish  water,  ^though  at  consider 
able  expense,  and  pipes  convey  and  spread  it  in 
fine  spray  all  over  yard  and  garden.  The  result  is, 
every  man's  door-yard  in  the  city  is  like  an  east 
ern  conservatory;  and  little  humble  cottages  smile 
out  of  this  city  of  sand-hills  and  dust,  as  green  and 
as  yellow,  and  as  red  and  as  purple,  as  gayest  of 
garden  can  make  them.  There  is  no  aristocracy 
of  flowers  here ;  they  greet  you  everywhere  in 
greatest  profusion,  and  are  tender  solace  to  home 
sick  heart  and  cheap  and  sweet  tonic  to  weary 
brain. 

Kindred  contrasts  force'  themselves  upon  the  ob 
servant  stranger,  in  the  business  and  social  life  of 


292  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

the  town.  Some  of  the  finest  qualities  are  mingled 
with  others  that  are  both  shabby  and  "shoddy." 
There  is  sharp,  full  development  of  all  material 
powers  and  excellencies ;  wealth  of  practical  qual 
ity  and  force ;  a  recklessness  and  rioting  with  the 
elements  of  prosperity ;  much  dash,  a  certain  chiv- 
alric  honor  combined  with  carelessness  of  word,  of 
integrity,  of  consequence ;  a  sort  of  gambling,  spec 
ulating,  horse-jockeying  morality, — born  of  the  un 
certainties  of  mining,  its  sudden  hights,  its  equally 
surprising  depths,  and  the  eager  haste  to  be  rich, — 
that  all  require  something  of  a  re-casting  of  rela 
tionships,  new  standards,  certainly  new  charities, 
in  order  to  get  the  unaccustomed  mind  into  a  state 
of  candor  and  justice.  People,  who  know  they  are 
smart  in  the  East,  and  come  out  here  thinking  to 
find  it  easy  wool-gathering,  are  generally  apt  to  go 
home  skorn.  Wall  Street  can  teach  Montgomery 
Street  nothing  in  the  way  of  "bulling"  and  "bear 
ing,"  and  the  "corners"  made  here  require  both 
quick  and  long  breath  to  turn  without  faltering. 

Men  of  mediocre  quality  are  no  better  off  here 
than  in  older  cities  and  States.  Ten  or  fifteen 
years  of  stern  chase  after  fortune,  among  the  mines 
and  mountains  and  against  the  new  nature  of  this 
original  country,  has  developed  men  here  with  a 
tougher  and  more  various  experience  in  all  the  tem 
poralities  of  life,  and  a  wider  resource  for  fighting  all 
sorts  of  "  tigers,"  than  you  can  easily  find  among  the 
present  generation  in  the  eastern  States.  Nearly 
all  the  men  of  means  here  to-day  have  held  long 
and  various  struggle  with  fortune,  failing  once,  twice 


.   THE    BUSINESS   MEN   OF   SAN   FRANCISCO. 

or  thrice  and  making  wide  wreck,  but  buckling  on 
the  armor  again  and  again,  and  trying  the  contest 
over  and  over.  So  it  is  throughout  the  State  and 
the  Coast ;  I  have  hardly  met  an  old  emigrant  of 
'49  and  '50,  who  has  not  told  me  of  vicissitudes  of 
fortune,  of  personal  trials,  and  hard  work  for  bread 
and  life,  that,  half-dreamed  of  before  coming  here, 
he  would  never  have  dared  to  encounter,  and  which 
no  experience  of  persons  in  like  position  in  life  in 
the  East  can  parallel. 

In  consequence  partly  of  all  this  training,  and 
partly  of  the  great  interests  and  the  wide  regions 
to  be  dealt  with,  the  men  I  find  at  the  head  of  the 
great  enterprises  of  this  Coast  have  great  business 
power, — a  wide  practical  reach,  a  boldness,  a  sagac 
ity,  a  vim,  that  I  do  not  believe  can  be  matched 
anywhere  in  the  world.  London  and  New  York 
and  Boston  can  furnish  men  of  more  philosophies 
and  theories, — men  who  have  studied  business  as  a 
science  as  well  as  practiced  it  as  a  trade, — but  here 
are  the  men  of  acuter  intuitions  and  more  daring 
natures ;  who  cannot  tell  you  why  they  do  so  and 
so,  but  who  will  do  it  with  a  force  that  commands 
success.  Such  men  have  built  up  and  direct  the 
California  Steam  Navigation  Company,  that  is  to  the 
waters  of  this  State  what  the  Oregon  Company  is 
to  those  of  that,  commanding  the  entire  navigation 
and  furnishing  most  unexceptionable  facilities  for 
trade  and  travel ;  the  California  and  Pioneer  Stage 
Companies,  that  equally  command  the  stage  travel 
of  the  Coast ;  the  Woolen  Mills  of  this  city ;  the 
Wells  &  Fargo  Express  Company;  the  great  Ma- 


2Q4  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

chine  Shops  of  Pacific  street;  the  Pacific  Mail 
Steamship  Company ;  and  the  great  private  Bank 
ing  Houses,  of  which  there  are  many  and  most  pros 
perous.  Much  British  capital  is  invested  in  bank 
ing  here  ;  nor  only  in  original  houses,  but  through 
branches  of  leading  bankers  in  London,  India  and 
British  Columbia.  But  chief  of  the  banks  is  the 
Bank  of  California,  with  two  millions  of  capital, 
divided  into  only  forty  shares  of  fjfty  thousand  dol 
lars  each,  and  owned  by  fewer  than  that  number  of 
persons,  who  represent  a  total  property  of  thirteen 
millions  (gold).  This  institution  does  about  half 
the  banking  business  of  the  city,  and  its  average 
cash  movement  every  steamer  day,  in  shipments  of 
bullion  and  drafts,  is  five  millions  of  dollars.  It 
keeps  the  best  commercial  and  financial  writer  of 
the  Coast  in  its  employ,  has  agents  in  all  the  centers 
of  productive  wealth  in  the  Pacific  States,  invests, 
directly  or  indirectly,  in  most  of  the  leading  enter 
prises  .of  the  State,  has  an  eye  out  for  the  politics 
and  religion  of  the  country,  and  to  a  very  consider 
able  extent  "runs"  California  every  way. 

But  there  is  no  institution  of  the  Coast  that  has 
interested  me  more  than  the  Wells  &  Fargo  Ex 
press.  It  is  the  omnipresent,  universal  business 
agent  of  all  the  region  from  the  Rocky  Mountains 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Its  offices  are  in  every  town, 
far  and  near ;  a  billiard  saloon,  a  restaurant,  and  a 
Wells  &  Fargo  office  are  the  first  three  elements 
of  a  Pacific  or  Coast  mining  town ;  its  messengers 
are  on  every  steamboat,  and  rail-car  and  stage,  in 
all  these  States.  It  is  the  Ready  Companion  of 


WELLS   AND   FARGO   AS   LETTER-CARRIERS.    2Q5 

civilization,  the  Universal  Friend  and  Agent  of  the 
miner,  his  errand  man,  his  banker,  his  post-office. 
It  is  much  more  than  an  ordinary  express  com 
pany  ;  it  does  a  general  and  universal  banking  busi 
ness,  and  a  great  one  in  amount ;  it  brings  to  market 
all  the  bullion  and  gold  from  the  mining  regions, — 
its  statistics  are  the  only  reliable  knowledge  of  the 
production  ;  and  it  divides  with  the  government  the 
carrying  of  letters  to  and  fro. 

In  the  latter  respect  its  operations  are  very  curi 
ous.  Going  along  hand  in  hand  with  the  rapidly 
changing  populations  of  the  mining  States,  offering 
readier  and  more  various  facilities  than  the  slower- 
moving  and  circumscribed  government  machinery, 
carrying  the  goods  of  the  merchant  and  the  bullion 
of  the  miner,  as  well  as  their  letters,  it  has  grown 
very  much  into  the  heart  and  habit  of  the  people, 
and  even  conveys  many  of  the  letters  upon  routes 
that  the  government  mail  now  goes  as  quickly  and 
as  safely  as  the  express  company,  though  their  cost 
by  the  latter  is  much  the  greatest.  The  company 
breaks  none  of  the  post-office  laws,  but  pays  the 
government  its  full  price  for  every  letter  it  carries. 
The  process  is  thus :  Wells  &  Fargo  buy  the  post- 
office  envelopes  bearing  the  government  stamp,  and 
then  put  their  own  stamp  or  frank  upon  them,  and 
sell  the  same  for  ten  cents  each ;  and  in  these  en 
velopes,  thus  doubly  stamped,  all  the  letters  by  ex 
press  are  carried.  Where  the  letters  are  above  the 
single  rate,  additional  government  stamps  are  put 
on  and  charged  for  by  the  company. 

The  extent  of  this  business  is  shown  by  the  facts 


296  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

that  Wells  &  Fargo  bought  of  the  government  in 
.1863  over  two  millions  of  three-cent  envelopes, 
fifteen  thousand  of  six-cent  envelopes,  and  thirty 
thousand  of  ten  and  eighteen-cent  ones,  besides 
seventy  thousand  of  extra  three-cent  stamps  and 
twelve  thousand  five  hundred  of  six-cent  ditto.  In 
1864,  the  business  increased,  as  it  has  steadily  all 
along,  and  the  three-cent  envelopes  bought  and  sold 
by  Wells  &  Fargo  in  that  year  were  nearly  two  and 
a  quarter  millions,  and  the  extra  stamps  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand.  Thus  all  the 
agencies  of  Wells  &  Fargo  are  private  post-offices, 
doing  the  business  of  the  government  better  and 
more  satisfactorily  than  it  does  it  itself,  and  paying 
the  government  its  full  price  for  the  same.  One 
long  side  of  the  great  San  Francisco  office  is  de 
voted  to  this  letter  business ;  clerks  wait  courte 
ously,  and  at  all  hours,  on  all  callers ;  letters  with 
known  or  discoverable  local  addresses  are  delivered ; 
and  for  the  others,  lists  of  those  received  each  day 
are  regularly  posted,  so  that  any  one  can  tell  at  once, 
without  inquiry,  if  there  be  anything  for  him.  The 
messengers  of  the  company  on  stages  and  steam 
boats  receive  all  letters  under  the  appropriate  en 
velopes,  and  the  facilities  of  letter  carriage  they 
afford  are  much  wider  and  more  intimate  than  the 
government  gives. 

This  part  of  the  business  of  WTells  &  Fargo  is 
very  profitable,  and  its  success,  popularity  and  wide 
extension,  reaching  through  one  hundred  and  sev 
enty-five  different  towns  and  villages,  and  extending 
as  well  to  the  newest  mining  regions  in  Idaho  as  to 


ROBBERIES    OF    THE    MESSENGERS. 

the  chief  cities  of  California, — even  beyond  and  off 
mail  routes  and  post-offices, — present  very  effective 
practical  arguments  for  the  government's  giving  up 
wholly  its  post-office  department.  The  main  rea 
son  offered  against  such  abandonment  has  generally 
been,  that  the  sparsely  settled  States  and  widely 
separated  populations  could  not,  by  private  enter 
prise,  be  served  with  their  letters  except  at  high 
cost ;  but  this  experience  on  the  Pacific  Coast  more 
than  meets  this.  Private  enterprise  here  does  bet 
ter  than  the  government,  and  is  preferred  to  it. 
Wells  &  Fargo  even  offered  some  years  ago  to  do 
the  whole  mail  service  of  the  Pacific  Coast  at  five 
cents  a  letter,  provided  the  franking  privilege  was 
abolished.  They  could  doubtless  perform  it  with 
profit  at  three  cents,  and  would  if  the  business  were 
all  secured  to  them. 

The  Wells  &  Fargo  Express  is  mostly  owned  in 
New  York,  but  it  is  managed  out  here  by  men  of 
large  business  experience  and  great  sagacity,  and  m 
its  enterprise  and  popular  facilities  not  only  strik 
ingly  illustrates  but  greatly  advances  the  civiliza 
tion  of  these  States.  Often  it  runs  special  treasure 
wagons  with  escort,  and  frequently  its  messengers 
are  exposed  to  great  peril  from  robbers  and  Indians. 
Those  from  Idaho  now  have  to  ride  wide  awake, 
day  and  night,  with  guns  and  pistols  ready  loaded 
and  cocked.  The  stages  on  which  their  messengers 
and  treasure  were  passing  were  stopped  and  robbed 
on  the  road  eight  times  during  1864;  and  several 
serious  robberies  have  also  occurred  this  year,  and 
in  one  case  a  messenger  was  murdered.  The  man- 
13* 


298  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

agers  of  the  express  are  influential  leaders  and 
movers  in  the  opening  of  new  routes  and  In  estab 
lishing  lines  of  stages ;  even  also  are  high  powers 
in  the  construction  of  railroads. 

The  success  and  extent  of  the  Machine  Shops 
and  Woolen  Manufacture  here  in  San  Francisco 
were  also  interesting  objects  of  observation.  There 
is  no  longer  use  or  profit  in  importing  machinery 
from  the  East.  As  good,  if  not  better,  is  made 
here,  and  as  cheap ;  steam  engines  and  boilers  of 
the  highest  grade ;  and  stamps  and  crushers  and  all 
the  various  machinery  for  the  mining  regions.  The 
machine  shops  are  mostly  in  a  single  street,  and 
must  employ  in  the  aggregate  about  one  thousand 
mechanics  and  laborers.  O,ne  of  the  largest  and 
most  complete  of  these  establishments  is  owned 
and  conducted  by  Mr.  Ira  P.  Rankin,  formerly  of 
Boston  and  Northampton. 

There  are  two  large  and  successful  Woolen  Mills. 
The  oldest  and  most  successful  is  the  "Mission," 
the  creation  of  an  indomitable  Scotch-Yankee,  Mr. 
Donald  McLennan,  who  learned  his  business  among 
the  mills  of  Middlesex  County,  Massachusetts,  and 
came  out  here  some  eight  or  ten  years  ago,  with 
only  a  few  dollars  in  his  pocket,  but  with  a  big  cap 
ital  of  experience,  industry  and  courage.  His  estab> 
lishment  is  now  worth  over  half  a  million  dollars : 
consumed  last  year  over  one  million  pounds  of 
wool,  and  manufactured  thirty-two  thousand  pairs 
of  blankets,  near  half  a  million  yards  of  flannels, 
and  over  one  hundred  thousand  yards  of  cloths  and 
cloakings.  The  wool  is  all  of  California  growth,— 


THE    MISSION    WOOLEN    MILLS.  299 

for  this  is  a  large  and  cheap  wool-producing  State ; — 
the  machinery,  which  includes  eleven  sets  of  cards, 
thirty-five  hundred  spindles  and  fifty  broad  power- 
looms,  is  of  the  very  best  and  most  modern  descrip 
tion,  from  England  and  the  East;  and  the  goods 
produced  are  of  much  variety  of  grade  and  style,  in 
order  to  suit  and  fill  the  limited  market  here.  The 
blankets  are  the  finest  made  anywhere  in  tfye  United 
States,  perhaps  in  the  world;  certainly  there  are 
none  in  the  eastern  markets  to  compare  with  them 
either  in  thickness  or  softness ;  and  except  for  the 
very  finest  of  broadcloths  and  cassimeres,  these 
mills  are  fast  driving  all  woolen  goods  from  the 
East  and  from  Europe  out- of  this  market.  The 
army  and  Indian  departments  on  this  Coast  have 
been  largely  supplied  with  their  blankets  and  cloth 
ing  from  this  establishment  during  the  last  four 
years;  and  the  government  officers  testify  that 
these  goods  are  of  much  superior  quality  to  those 
generally  sent  from  the  East.  ' 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  Mr. 
McLennan's  establishment  is  that  the  work  is 
nearly  all  done  by  Chinamen,  almost  three  hundred 
being  employed.  A  few  whites  are  only  necessary 
for  the  more  intricate  and  skill-requiring  processes, 
and  for  superintending.  The  Chinese  are  found 
much  cheaper  of  course ;'  indeed  the  business  could 
not  be  carried  on  successfully  here  but  for  their 
labor,  which  costs  but  one  dollar  and  twelve  cents 
a  day  against  two  dollars  and  ninety-seven  cents 
for  the  whites  employed;  and  the  superintendent 
testifies  that  the  difficulties  of  a  first  be£innin2 


3OO  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

with  them  were  very  speedily  and  fully  overcome, 
and  they  were  found  very  quick  to  learn  all  the 
details  of  the  work,  such  as  carding,  spinning,  weav 
ing,  finishing  and  wool-sorting.  They  live  in  a 
large  building  on  the  mill  grounds,  and  make  the 
most  reliable,  constant  and  valuable  of  factory 
operatives. 

The  first  cotton  manufactory  in  California  is  just 
finished  and  going  into  operation,  over  the  bay  in 
Oakland,  and  will  get  its  raw  material  from  the 
Mexican  States,  for  the  present  at  least  Success 
ful  experiments  in  cotton  raising  on  a  large  scale 
have  been  made  this  season  in  southern  California. 
— There-  is  a  great  sugar  refinery  establishment  in 
San  Francisco,  drawing  its  materials  for  refining 
fr\>m  the  Sandwich  Islands,  which  are  fast  coming 
to  be  the  exclusive  source  of  sweetening  for  all 
these  States. — There  are  also  extensive  lead  and 
iron  and  glass  works.  San .  Francisco  enterprise 
and  capital  are  at  the  foundation  of  all  these  pioneer 
manufactures;  but  success  will  soon  extend  and 
multiply  them  over  the  State. 

I  dwell  upon  these  particulars,  these  illustrations 
of  the  enterprise  and  skill  of  this  city  and  these 
States,  because  they  form  the  promise  of  the  great 
future.  There  is  a  sea-captain  in  your  town,  and 
quite  a  young  man,  too,  who  used  to  come  here  for 
hides,  when  only  a  single  cabin  marked  the  site  of 
San  Francisco.  Now  it  has  a  population  of  over 
one  hundred  thousand,  or  nearly  a  quarter  of  the 
whole  State ;  pays  half  the  taxes  of  the  State ;  has 
a  larger  foreign  commerce  than  any  city  in  the  Na- 


COMMERCE    OF    SAN    FRANCISCO.  3OI 

tion  but  New  York  and  Boston,  its  customs-revenue 
for  the  first  six  months  of  this  year  being  three  mil 
lions  and  a  quarter  dollars,  and  its  port  clearing 
two  hundred  and  thirty  vessels  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty-three  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-four 
tons  for  foreign  ports,  and  entering  one  hundred  and 
ninety  vessels  of  one  hundred  and  forty-nine  thou-, 
sand  seven  hundred  and  forty-four  tonnage  during 
the  same  time,  besides  a  domestic  shipping  two- 
thirds  these  figures ;  and  soon,  within  ten  years, — 
struggle  as  Boston  may  and  grow  as  she  will, — it 
will  divide  commercial  honors  with  New  York  alone. 
Here  is  seat  of  empire,  and  of  population,  as  great 
as  yours  of  the  eastern  States ;  here  the  equal  arm 
of  the  American  Nation  ;  and  these  men  and  means 
that  I  have  been  describing  are  the  beginnings  of 
the  great  and  majestic  end. 


LETTER     XXVII. 

MINING  IN  CALIFORNIA:   ITS  VARIETIES,  RESULTS 
AND  PROSPECTS. 


MARIPOSA,  California,  August  28. 

WE  have  been  making  our  final  studies  of  the 
mining  business  of  the  Pacific  States  here  among 
the  mines  and  mills  of  the  famous  Mariposa  estate 
of  Colonel  Fremont.  Thus  the  occasion  is  a  proper 
one  to  sum  up  my  various  notes  and  observations 
in  California  on  that  subject,  and  so  far  as  possible 
represent  the  state  of  the  business  in  the  whole 
region  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  gross 
production  of  gold  and  silver  by  all  these  States 
was  probably  never  greater  than  now.  There  are 
no  very  exact  figures  to  be  had;  those  of  Wells, 
Fargo  &  Company's  Express  and  the  San  Francisco 
mint  furnish  the  best  data,  and  are  before  me  in 
detail.  They  indicate  a  total  yield  for  1864  of  about 
sixty  millions  of  dollars,  and  for  this  year  at  least 
an  equal,  probably  a  greater  sum,  perhaps  sixty-five 
or  seventy  millions.  California  herself  produces 
now  but  about  one-third  of  this  amount;  she  has 
fallen  off  from  forty  and  fifty  millions  a  year  to 
twenty  and  twenty-five ;  while  Nevada  now  offers 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  millions  a  year,  mainly  of 


QUARTZ    MINING    AND    SOIL    DIGGINGS.          303 

silver ;  Idaho  and  eastern  Oregon  sent  forward  nine 
millions  last  year,  and  will  probably  increase  this  to 
twelve  or  fifteen  millions  this  year ;  and  the  British 
Provinces  and  Arizona  furnish  perhaps  five  millions. 
The  gold  of  Montana  mainly  finds  its  way  east 
through  Colorado;  but  this  is  the  first  season  of 
any  large  production  there.  But  the  production  of 
all  the  States  and  Territories  this  side  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  comes  to  San  Francisco  ;  one-third  of  it, 
or  about  twenty  millions,  is  coined  at  the  United 
States  mint  there ;  and  the  rest  is  exported  in  bars 
or  dust,  mainly  in  bars,  to  New  York,  China  and 
England,  but  chiefly  now  to  England. 

The  western  or  California  slopes  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  yield  no  silver  ore, — here  the  mining  is  of 
gold  alone,  and  it  is  divided  into  two  general  classes ; 
that  which  seeks  the  metal  from  the  solid  rock,  or 
quartz,  and  that  which  finds  it  in  sand,  gravel,  or 
soil.  The  former  process  is  the  universal  and  famil 
iar  one  of  all  rock  mining,  following  the  rich  veins 
into  the  bowels  of  the  earth  with  pick  and  powder, 
crushing  the  rock,  and  seducing  the  infinitesimal 
atoms  of  metal  from  the  dusty,  powdered  mass. 

The  accepted  theory  is  that  this  is  the  original 
form  or  deposit  of  the  precious  metals, — that  the 
gold  found  in  gravel,  sand  or  soil, — lying  as  it  does 
almost  universally  in  the  beds  of  rivers,  dead  or 
alive,  or  under  the  eaves  of  the  mountains, — has 
been  washed  and  ground  out  of  the  hard  hills  by 
the  action  of  the  elements  through  long  years. 
Washing  with  water  is  the  universal  means  of  get 
ting  at  these  deposits  of  the  gold.  •..  But  the  scale 


304  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

on  which  this  work  is  done,  and  the  instrumentali 
ties  of  application,  vary,  from  the  simple  hand-pan 
and  pick  and  shovel  of  the  individual  and  original 
miner,  operating  along  the  banks  of  a  little  stream, 
to  grand  combination  enterprises  for  changing  the 
entire  course  of  a  river,  running  shafts  down  hun 
dreds  of  feet  to  get  into  the  beds  of  long  ago 
streams,  and  bringing  water  through  ditches  and 
flumes  and  great  pipes  for  ten  or  twenty  miles, 
wherewith  to  wash  down  a  hill-side  of  golden  gravel, 
and  get  at  its  precious  particles.  The  simple  indi 
vidual  pan-washers  have  mostly  "  moved  on  "  for  the 
richer  sands  of  Idaho  and  Montana ;  what  of  this 
sort  of  gold  seeking  remains  in  California  is  in  the 
hands  of  patient  and  plodding  "John  Chinaman," 
who  works  over  the  neglected  sands  of  his  prede 
cessors,  and  is  content  to  reap  as  harvest  a  dollar's 
worth  a  day. 

The  other  means  are  employed,  on  greater  or  less 
scales  of  magnitude,  by  combinations  of  men  and 
capital.  All  the  forms  of  gold  washing  run  into 
each  other,  indeed ;  and  companies  of  two  or  three, 
sometimes  of  Chinamen,  with  capitals  of  hundreds 
of  dollars,  buy  a  sluice  claim  or  seize  a  deserted 
bed,  and  with  shovel  and  pick  and  small  stream  of 
water,  run  the  sands  over  and  over  through  the 
sluice  ways,  and  at  end  of  day,  or  week,  or  month, 
gather  up  the  deposits  of  gold  on  the  bottoms  and 
at  the  ends  of  their  sluices.  From  this,  opera 
tions  ascend  to  a  magnitude  involving  hundreds 
of  thousands,  and  employing  hundreds  of  men  as 
partners  or  day  laborers  for  the  managers.  Some- 


DEEP  DIGGINGS  AND  HYDRAULIC  MINING.    305 

times,  too,  the  enterprise  is  divided,  and  companies 
are  organized  that  furnish  the  water  alone,  and  sell 
it  out  to  the  miners  or  washers  according  to  their 
wants.  The  raising  of  auriferous  sands  and  gravel 
from  the  deeply  covered  beds  of  old  streams,  by 
running  down  shafts  and  out  tunnels  into  and 
through  such  beds,  and  then  washing  them  over,  is 
called  "  Deep  Diggings,"  or  "  Bed-rock  Diggings," 
and  in  their  pursuit  the  bottoms  of  ancient  rivers 
will  be  followed  through  the  country  for  mile  after 
mile,  and  many  feet  below  the  present  surface  of 
the  earth.  The  miners  in  this  fashion  go  down  till 
they  reach  'the  bed-rock,  along  which  the  water  orig 
inally  ran,  and  here  they  find  the  richest  deposits. 

The  other  sort  of  heavy  gold  washing,  employing 
powerful  streams  of  water  to  tear  down  and  wash 
out  the  soil  of  hill-sides  that  cover  or  hold  golden 
deposits,  is  known  as  "  Hydraulic  Mining."  This  is 
the  most  unique  and  extensive  process,  involving 
the  largest  capital  and  risk.  The  water  is  brought 
from  mountain  lakes  or  rivers  through  ditches  and 
flumes,  sometimes  supported  by  trestle-work  fifty 
to  one  hundred  feet  high,  to  near  the  theater  of 
operations.  Then  it  is  let  from  flumes  into  large 
and  stout  iron  pipes  which  grow  gradually  smaller 
and  smaller,  out  of  these  it  is  passed  into  hose, 
like  that  of  a  fire  engine,  and  through  this  it  is  fired 
with  a  terrible  force  into  the  bank  or  bed  of  earth, 
which  is  speedily  torn  down. and  washed  with  resist 
less,  separating  power,  into  narrow  beds  or  sluices 
in  the  lower  valleys,  and  as  it  goes  along  these,  hin 
dered  and  seduced  at  various  points,  the  more  solid 

20 


306  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

gold  particles  deposit  themselves.  Usually,  in  large 
operations  of  this  kind,  the  main  stream  of  water 
is  divided  in  the  final  discharging  hose  into  two  or 
more  streams,  which  spout  out  into  the  hill-side  as 
if  from  several  fire  engines,  only  with  immensely 
more  force.  One  of  the  streams  would  instantly 
kill  man  or  animal  that  should  get  before  it,  and 
frequent  fatal  or  half-fatal  accidents  occur  from  this 
cause.  Near  Dutch  Flat,  where  extensive  hydraulic 
mining  is  in  progress,  a  water  company  taps  lakes 
twelve  to  twenty  miles  off  in  the  mountains,  and 
turns  whole  rivers  into  its  ditches ;  and  as  further 
illustration  of  its  majestic  operations,  we  learned 
that  it  spent  eighty  thousand  dollars  in  one  year  in 
building  a  new  ditch,  and  yet  made  and  divided  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  additional 
profits  that  same  year.  Up  near  Yreka,  in  northern 
California,  a  ditch  thirty  miles  long,  and  costing 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  constructed  for 
this  business ;  but  in  this  instance,  the  enterprise 
did  not  prove  profitable.  Near  Oroville,  also,  are 
supposed  rich  gold  banks  and  beds  that  only  lack 
water  for  development ;  but  to  get  this  will  require 
ditches  costing  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The 
citizens  of  the  neighborhood  are  confident  it  would 
be  a  richly-paying  investment,  however,  and  say  the 
chief  reason  why  it  is  not  entered  upon  is  the  lack 
of  certain  laws  regulating  mining  claims,  and  the 
conflicts  and  doubt  that  are  engendered  by  the  neg 
lect  of  the  government  to  establish  the  terms  of 
ownership  in  mining  lands. 

As  it  is  now,,  squatter  sovereignty  is  the  substan- 


PROFITABLE    GOLD   WASHINGS.  3O/ 

tial  law  of  mining  properties ;  prospectors  and 
miners  have  established  a  few  general  rules  for  de 
termining  the  rights  of  each  other ;  and  they  can 
occupy  and  use  the  properties  that  they  discover  or 
purchase,  to  a  certain  limited  extent.  No  one  man 
is  allowed  to  take  up  more  than  ^  certain  amount 
in  feet  or  acres.  The  government  so  far  has  done 
nothing  with  these  mineral  lands,  whose  fee  is  still 
in  itself,  and  gets  no  revenue  from  them.  When 
ever  cases  of  conflict  come  into  court,  the  regu 
lations  of  the  miners  of  the  district,  where  the 
properties  are  located,  have  been  generally  sus 
tained.  But  the  apprehension  that  the  government 
will  yet  assume  its  rights,  and  establish  different 
rules  for  the  possession  and  use  of  these  lands,  and 
the  uncertainty  and  controversies  growing  out  of 
the  present  loose  ways  of  making  and  holding 
claims,  are  undoubtedly  a  stumbling-block  to  large 
enterprises,  and  an  obstacle  to  the  best  sort  of 
mining  progress  and  prosperity  all  through  the 
mineral  country  of  this  Coast. 

The  returns  obtained  in  some  cases  of  extensive 
deep  diggings  and  hydraulic  mining  are  very  great. 
A  thousand  dollars  a  day  is  often  washed  out  by  a 
company  holding  rich  soil  and  employing  a  large 
force;  and  a  run  of  several  weeks  averaging  fifty 
dollars  and  one  hundred  dollars  a  day  to  the  hand 
is  frequently  recorded.  A  single  "cleaning  up," 
after  a  few  weeks'  washing  in  a  rich  place,  has  pro 
duced  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  gold  dust  and  nug 
gets  ;  and  in  other  cases,  even  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars* is  reported.  These  are  the  extreme  cases 


308  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

of  good  fortune,  however ;  other  enterprises  are  rim 
with  a  loss,  or  with  varying  result;  but  the  gold 
washings,  as  a  general  thing,  are  paying  good  wages 
and  a  fair  return  to  the  capital  invested. 

Of  course  all  these  operations  create  a  wide  waste 
wherever  they  are  going  on,  and  have  been  in 
progress.  Tornado,  flood,  earthquake  and  vofcano 
combined  could  hardly  make  greater  havoc,  spread 
wider  ruin  and  wreck,  than  are  to  be  seen  every 
where  in  the  path  of  the  larger  gold-washing  oper 
ations.  None  of  the  interior  streams  of  California, 
though  naturally  pure  as  crystal,  escape  the  change 
to  a  thick  yellow  mud,  from  this  cause,  early  in 
their  progress  out  of  the  hills.  The  Sacramento  is 
worse  than  the  Missouri.  Many  of  the  streams  are 
turned  out  of  their  original  channels,  either  directly 
for  mining  purposes,  or  in  consequence  of  the  great 
masses  of  soil  and  gravel  that  come  down  from  the 
gold-washings  above.  Thousands  of  acres  of  fine 
land  along  their  banks  are  ruined  forever  by  the 
deposits  of  this  character.  There  are  no  rights 
which  mining  respects  in  California.  It  is  the  one 
supreme  interest.  A  farmer  may  have  his  whole 
estate  turned  to  a  barren  waste  by  a  flood  of  sand 
and  gravel  from  some  hydraulic  mining  up  stream ; 
more,  if  a  fine  orchard  or  garden  stands  in  the  way 
of  the  working  of  a  rich  gulch  or  bank,  orchard  and 
garden  must  go.  Then  the  torn-down,  dug-out, 
washed  to  pieces  and  then  washed  over  side-hills, 
that  have  been  or  are  being  hydraulic-mined,  are 
the  very  devil's  chaos,  indeed.  The  country  is  full 
of  them  among  the  mining  districts  of  the  Sierra 


YUBA  DAM — GRASS  VALLEY  QUARTZ  MINES.  309 

Nevada  foot-hills,  and  they  are  truly  a  terrible  blot 
upon  the  face  of  nature.  The  valley  of  the  Yuba, 
a  branch  of  the  Sacramento,  was  one  of  the  worst 
illustrations  our  journeying  has  presented ;  and 
when  we  came  to  the  sign  over  the  "grocery"  of  a 
now- deserted  mining  camp,  indicating  that  this  was 
"Yuba  Dam,"  we  thought  of  the  famous  anecdote 
connected  with  this  name,  from  its  repetition,  with 
out  the  benefit  of  spelling,  to  an  inquiring  colpor 
teur,  and  v/ere  fain  to  confess  that  the  profane  com 
pound  fairly  represented  the  spirit  of  the  lawless 
miner. 

The  gold  quartz  mines  are  mostly  in  the  same 
neighborhoods  with  present  or  past  gold-washings ; 
in  the  hills  back  and  above  the  rich  stream  beds 
and  gravel  banks.  Nevada  County  in  the  north, 
and  Mariposa  in  the  south,  have  been  the  most  fa 
mous  counties  for  this  interest.  The  most  success 
ful  and  noteworthy  operations  of  it  now  are  in  and 
around  the  town  of  Grass  Valley,  in  Nevada  Coun 
ty,  which  has  always  been  a  profitable  mining  re 
gion.  It  seemed  almost  the  only  mining  town  of 
importance  in  California,  that  we  visited,  which 
did  not  have  vacant  stores  and  houses,  and  show 
signs  of  decrepitude.  There  are  now  about  twenty 
quartz  mills  in  successful  operation  in  Grass  Val 
ley,  and  the  ore  they  work  yields  from  ten  to  fifty 
dollars  a  ton ;  occasionally  as  high  as  one  hundred 
and  two  hundred  dollars.  The  cost  of  mining  and 
working  is  from  six  to  ten  dollars  a  ton,  depending 
on  the  facilities  of  mine  and  mill.  Among  the  suc 
cessful  miners  and  capitalists  here,  is  Mr.  S.  D. 


3IO  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Bosworth,  from  West  Springfield  and  Springfield, 
who  now  occupies  the  cottage  which  the  notorious 
Lola  Montez  built  and  lived  in  for  several  years. 
She  came  here  to  perform  for  the  miners  in  1854, 
and  staid  to  ruin  one  husband,  and  change  him  for 
another.  She  led  a  rollicking  life  here,,  and  the 
town  is  full  of  scandals  concerning  her.  Intelli 
gent  gentlemen  who  met  her  confess  to  her  intel 
lectual  power  and  impressive  conversation,  and  to 
her  fascinating  manners.  Grass  Valley  also  boasts 
an  old  horse  that  goes  around  alone  with  a  milk- 
wagon,  stopping  before  the  doors  of  his  customers, 
and  nowhere  else,  and  delivering  his  daily  allow 
ances  to  each  with  unvarying  fidelity.  But  the 
really  wonderful  thing  about  this  story  is  that  Grass 
Valley  should  have  a  population  that  can  be  trusted 
to  help  themselves  to  milk,  and  not  take,  any  of 
them,  more  than  their  allotted  share.  The  mines 
here  are  receiving  enlarged  attention  just  now,  and 
extensive  new  investments  are  being  made,  both  in 
Grass  Valley  and  the  neighboring  town  of  Nevada. 
But  here  in  Mariposa  County,  the  interest  has  a 
different  look,  and  affairs  are  in  a  desperate  condi 
tion.  There  are  in  all  ten  quartz  mills  here,  all  or 
nearly  all  on  the  Fremont  estate,  but  only  two  or 
three  are  now  running,  and  these  with  moderate  re 
sults.  The  villages  are  decreasing  in  population  ; 
the  best  people  are  going  away ;  viciousness  of  all 
sorts  seems  to  be  increasing ;  and  highway  robber 
ies  are  of  almost  nightly  occurrence.  The  great 
Mariposa  mining  company,  formed  in  Wall  street 
two  years  ago  with  a  capital  of  ten  millions,  a  debt 


THE    MARIPOSA    ESTATE ITS    RUINS.  $11 

of  two  millions,  and  not  a  cent  of  ready  cash, — 
succeeding  to  General  Fremont's  property  and  his 
style  of  doing  business, — has  come  to  grief.  Its 
most  worthy  superintendent  and  manager,  Mr. 
Frederic  Law  Olmsted,  who  was  beguiled  out  fiere 
under  a  gross  misapprehension  of  the  situation  of 
affairs,  and  the  duties  he  was  to  perform,  is  going 
home  disgusted,  to  resume  more  congenial  occupa 
tion  in  the  East ;  the  sheriff  has  been  brooding 
over  the  estate  for  six  months ;  and  its  local  credi 
tors  are  running  one  or  two  of  its  mills  and  mines, 
on  a  close  and  economical  scale, — using  up  accu 
mulated  materials',  but  laying  in  no  new  supplies, — 
in  order  to  obtain  their  claims.  The  ore  now  being 
obtained  and  thus  worked  returns  from  seven  dol 
lars  to  ten  dollars  a  ton,  which  gives  a  small  mar 
gin  of  profit.  It  is  all  a  sad,  vast  ruin, — a  magnifi 
cent  gentleman,  holding  his  head  high,  but  wearing 
his  last  year's  clothes,  and  dining  around  with  his 
friends, — a  sort  of  grand  land  and  mine  Micawber. 
There  is  doubtless  life  and  value,  possibly  great 
wealth,  in  it  still,  but  not  of  the  sort  or  degree  that 
has  been  set  up  for  it.  Divided  up,  and  conducted 
by  private  parties  or  small  companies  on  a  moderate 
capital,  as  the  Grass  Valley  mines  are,  or  managed, 
as  a  whole  even,  with  an  eye  to  practical  results 
alone,  and  no  such  side  issues  as  the  presidency,  or 
a  grand  Wall  street  stock-jobbing  operation,  or  the 
control  of  California  politics,  depending  on  it,  and 
.drawing  its  life-blood,  the  estate  may  yet  have  a 
useful  future  before  it.  But  the  end  to  it  as  a  grand 
Principality,  as  an  exhaustless  Fountain  for  political 


312  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

and  financial  jobbing,  seems  surely  to  have  come. 
Indeed,  its  most  striking  capacity  always  has  been 
in  carrying  an  immense,  a  magnificent  indebted 
ness.  A  few  men  are  rich  from  it  here  and  in  the 
East ;  but  their  wealth  is  more  from  the  sale  of 
stock  and  bonds  in  New  York,  than  the  profits  of 
its  mines  in  Mariposa.  The  illustration  of  the 
whole  lies  best,  perhaps,  in  the  sincere  boast  at 
tributed  to  its  most  gallant  but  never  thrifty  origi 
nal  owner.  "Why,"  said  General  Fremont,  "when 
I  came  to  California,  I  was  worth  nothing,  and  now 
I  owe  two  millions  of  dollars !" 

There  are  no  very  reliable  statistics  as  to  the  ex 
tent  of  the  quartz-mining  interest  of  California,  or 
of  its  comparative  results  by  the  side  of  the  gold- 
washings.  The  estimate  of  a  prominent  authority 
before  me  places  the  number  of  quartz-mills  in  the 
State  at  six  hundred,  their  cost  at  twelve  million 
dollars,  and  their  product,  on  an  avefage  of  ten  dol 
lars  to  the  ton  of  ore,  at  eighteen  millions  of  dollars 
a  year.  But  these  figures  are  clearly  wide  of  the 
fact ;  there  can  hardly  be  over  one  hundred  quartz- 
mills,  properly  so  called,  in  all  California ;  and  they 
do  not  divide  the  State's  product  with  the  gold- 
washers  equally.  Mining  in  California,  of  all  kinds, 
is  now  much  more  systematically  and  intelligently 
conducted  than  ever  before.  It  is  losing  its  waste 
ful,  gambling  characteristics.  In  1 862,  it  apparently 
had  its  greatest  production ;  the  returns  for  1 864 
were  only  about  half  as  much ;  and  probably  this 
year  will  show  no  gain  upon  the  last.  The  interest 
is,  on  the  whole,  at  the  ebb  tide.  But  the  risks  of 


THE    IDAHO    MINES.  313 

the  business  will  henceforth  be  less  than  heretofore ; 
the  cost  of  production  is  cheaper  here  than  in  the 
newer  and  more  remote  fields ;  new  and  valuable 
fields  are  being  discovered  and  opened  among  the 
Sierras ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  the  belief  that  invest 
ments  in  mining  in  California  can  be  made  "with 
better  results,  at  least  with  more  certainty  of  profit, 
if  less  possible  gains,  than  in  any  of  the  fresher  and 
more  fashionable  regions. 

The  Idaho  mines  are  perhaps  exciting  the  most 
interest  at  present  among  the  people  of  the  Coast ; 
and  they  are  also  beginning  to  divide  enticements 
with  those  of  Nevada  and  Colorado,  for  eastern 
speculators  and  capitalists.  Some  reliable  facts 
about  them,  which  I  have  from  original  sources, 
will  not  be  amiss  therefore,  and  serve  to  complete 
my  general  review  of  the  mining  developments  of 
this  whole  region.  The  Boise  Basin  district  is  still 
rich  in  gold-washings,  and  is  perhaps  the  richest 
region  in  that  respect  yet  worked  anywhere  in  the 
West.  It  has  also  rich  quartz  veins,  and  there  are 
already  eight  mills  in  operation  there,  with  eighty- 
four  stamps.  South  Boise  is  less  rich  in  placer  dig 
gings,  but  has  an  even  larger  development  of  the 
quartz  interest.  The  bullion  (gold)  here  holds  a 
large  proportion  of  silver,  and  is  not  worth  over 
fourteen  dollars  an  ounce.  The  Owyhee  district 
borders  on  Oregon,  and  its  mining  wealth  runs 
over  into  that  State.  The  ore  here  is  like  that  in 
Nevada,  having  more  silver  than  gold  in  it.  There 
are  six  mills  now  in  this  district,  one  of  them  with 
thirty  stamps.  The  veins  in  Boise  Basin  and  South 
14 


314  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

Boise  are  small,  like  those  of  Reese  River,  in  Ne 
vada,  opening  sometimes  as  low  as  four  inches,  but 
enlarging  generally  to  four  or  five  feet.  The 
"Mammoth  Vein"  is  from  three  to  twelve  feet 
wide ;  the  ore  is  generally  free  and  simple,  and  is 
worked  without  roasting.  The  yield  is  from  forty 
dollars  a  ton  up  ;  one  vein  runs  from  forty  to  eighty 
dollars ;  and  others  have  yielded  from  two  hundred 
to  three  hundred  dollars  a  ton.  It  is  not  probable 
that  the  full  value  of  the  ore  is  obtained  by  the 
present  means  of  working,  and  the  tailings  are 
saved. 

The  country  is  very  barren,  having  the  same 
genera]  characteristics  as  eastern  Oregon  and  Ne 
vada.  There  are  some  good  valleys,  and  timber  is 
plenty  enough  for  the  present  save  in  the  Owyhee 
district.  The  price  of  labor  is  six  dollars  a  day, 
and  goods  and  provisions  are  in  proportion.  The 
population  is  made  up  mostly  of  the  floating  mining 
elements  of  California,  Oregon  and  Nevada;  the 
men  who  are  always  moving  on  for  the  newest 
mines;  prosperous  to-day,  poor  to-morrow.  The 
winters  in  Idaho  are  severe,  and  the  work,  in  the 
placer  diggings  is  then  suspended.  The  miners 
float  back  to  the  older  towns,  to' The  Dalles  and  Port" 
land  in  Oregon,  and  San  Francisco,  in  the  fall,  and 
spend  there  their  summer  savings,  and  start  out 
again  in  the  spring  for  the  old  diggings,  if  no  newer 
and  more  fabulous  ones  have  been  since  discovered. 

Taking  these  figures  as  reliable  as  statements 
about  mines  generally  are  from  those  engaged  in 
the  business,  I  do  not  see  that  Idaho  really  offers 


CALIFORNIA'S  ADVANTAGE  FOR  MINING.     315 

any  better  inducements  for  emigration  and  capital 
than  Nevada  and  Colorado.  It  is  probable  my 
statements  relate  to  the  best  veins,  that  the  average 
will  fall  below  these  rates  of  production,  and  that 
the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  mining  interests 
and  the  sure  progress  of  the  State  will  await  the 
profitable  working  of  ores  yielding  from  ten  dollars 
to  twenty-five  dollars  a  ton,  as  is  already  admitted  to 
be  true  for  California,  and  for  Virginia  City,  Nevada, 
and  will  probably  soon  be  proven  in  Reese  River 
and  in  Colorado.  And  this  can  hardly  be  done 
until  quicker  and  cheaper  communication  is  pro 
vided.  Only  the  rare  veins,  only  the  choice  ore  in 
any  of  these  States  can  be  worked  to  much  profit,  • 
so  long  as  all  machinery,  all  food,  all  goods,  used  in 
the  business  and  for  the  people,  have  to  pay  a  freight 
tariff  of  ten  to  thirty  cents  a  pound,  and  labor  is 
from  four  to  eight  dollars  a  day.  California  has  the 
advantage  over  her  rivals  in  these  respects  now; 
and  I  repeat  that  it  seems  to  me  mining  is  likely  to 
be  as  profitable  in  this  State  for  the  next  five  years, 
taking  all  things  into  consideration,  as  in  any  of  the 
newer  regions.  The  others  must  wait  for  the  rail 
road  to  give  real  and  permanent  and  steady  develop 
ment  and  prosperity  to  greater  apparent  capacities. 
Do  not  complain,  my  reader,  that  this  letter  is 
getting  dull  wittfi  dry  fact  and  statistics ;  consider 
the  mass  of  figures  and  "  disgusting  details  "  that 
I  have  before  me,  and  have  spared  you,  and  be 
grateful :  and  come  now  with  me,  and  let  us  have. 
the  sensation  of  a  visit  into  the  abyssmal  depths  of 
the  mines  themselves.  Our  party  have  done  con- 


ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

siderable  of  this  descending  into  mines  in  our  prog 
ress  across  the  country;  for  it  became  occasion 
of  reproach  and  doubt  of  our  intelligent  future 
judgment,  if  we  failed  to  go  down  into  every 
miner's  particular  pet  hole.  Over  in  Austin,  we 
had  amusing  experience  in  this  regard.  We  were 
to  stay  but  three  days  there.  But  that  is  nothing, 
said  the  disappointed  people;  you  can't  begin  to 
see  our  mines  in  that  time ;  you  better  have  staid 
away.  Well,  come  on,  was  the  reply;  show  us 
what  you  can-  in  three  days,  and  then  let  us  see 
what  is  left  that  is  new  and  strange.  So  we  mount 
ed  ;  and  there  was  an  extensive  cavalcade  of  local 
officials,  practical  miners,  speculators,  and  genteel 
bummers  generally.  We  went  over  and  around 
hills,  down  into  mines,  through  mills,  everywhere 
that  our  guides  led  us ;  finding  naturally  great  sim 
ilarity  of  sights  and  testimony  everywhere.  By 
afternoon,  our  hosts  had  dwindled  one-half.  The 
next  morning,  instead  of  a  dozen,  we  had  but  three 
or  four  guides ;  at  noon,  they  were  reduced  to  one, 
and  at  night  we  had  exhausted  not  only  his  strength 
and  patience,  but  all  he  had  to  show  us.  We  had 
seen  Austin  and  its  mines,  and  had  a  day  to  spare ! 
The  newer  mines,  whose  shafts  are  but  fifty  or 
one  hundred  feet,  are  descended  by  a  simple  rope 
and  bucket,  worked  by  a  common « hand  windlass; 
older  and  deeper  ones,  by  the  same  contrivance, 
with  steam  power:  if,  as  Is  often  the -case,  the  vein 
runs  at  an  angle,  or  is  reached  below  in  that  way,  a 
little  car  runs  down  a  steep  track,  held  and  drawn  by 
a  heavy  rope  and  steam  engine ;  while  other  shafts 


INTO  THE  GOULD  AND  CURRY  MINE.    317 

are  provided  with  ladders,  winding  around,  or  set 
perpendicularly    up   and   down.      The   latest,    and 
safest  and  readiest   contrivance  for  descending  a 
perpendicular  shaft  is  a  cage  or  box,  let  down  by  a 
rope  with  steam  power,  but  provided  with  sharp, 
opening  arms  that,  in  case  the  rope  breaks,  will 
catch  into  the  walls  with  such  power  as  to  hold  the 
cage  and  its  load.     Its  certainty  was  proven  to  us 
by  cutting  the  rope  with  an  ax,  when  the  cage  sent 
out  its  fingers  and  clung  midway  in  its  passage. 
We  reached  the  insides  of   other  mines  by  long 
tunnels,  running  into  the  veins  from  the  surface,  far 
down   the  hill-sides   on  which  they  were  located. 
The  deepest  worked  mine  on  the  Pacific  Coast  is 
in  Amador  County,  this  State,  and  is  eight  hundred 
feet  down ;  but  some  of  those  over  in  Nevada  are 
fast  approaching  this  depth;    and  the  latter  have 
the  most  extensive  chambers  below  the  surface  of 
any  in  the  country.     The  Gould  &  Curry  mine,  for 
instance,  has  several  miles  length  of  tunnels  and 
shafts,  and  it  is  a  full  half  day's  journey  to  travel 
through  it  entirely. 

We  entered  this  mine  through  a  long  tunnel,  that 
strikes  the  vein  several  hundred  feet  below  the 
surface.  There  were  half  a  dozen  of  us  in  the  pro 
cession,  each  with  a  lighted  candle,  which  would  go 
out  under  the  out-going  draft,  and  so  we  soon  con 
tented  ourselves  with  grouping  along  in  the  dim, 
cavernous  light.  It  seemed  a  very  long  journey, 
and  the  nerves  had  to  brace  themselves.  The  most 
stolid  person,  stranger  to  such  experience,  will  hard 
ly  fail  to  find  his  heart  beating  a  little  quicker,  as 


3l8  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

he  goes  into  these  far-away,  narrow  recesses  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth.  I  never  failed  to  remember 
the  principle  that  "nature  abhors  a  vacuum,"  and 
to  wonder  if  she  wouldn't  take  the  present  occasion 
to  close  up  this  little  one  that  I  was  in.  At  last  we 
reached  the  scenes  of  the  ore  and  the  work  after  it ; 
and  among  these  we  clambered  and  wandered  about, 
down  shafts  to  this  or  that  level,  and  then  out  on 
side  tunnels  through  the  vein  in  both  directions ; 
up  again  by  narrow,  pokerish  ladders  to  a  higher 
set  o^chambers,  in  and  out,  up  and  down,  till  we 
were  lost  in  amazing  confusion.  Here  was,  indeed, 
a  city  of  streets  and  population  far  under  the  surface 
of  the  earth.  Many  of  the  chambers  or  streets 
were  deserted ;  in  others  we  found  little  coteries  of 
miners,  picking  away  at  .the  hard  rock,  and  loading 
up  cars  of  the  ore,  that  were  sent  out  by  the  tunnels 
and  up  by  the  shafts  to  the  surface  above.  Here, 
too,  was  a  building  in  a  wide  hall  under  ground, 
and  steam  engine  to  help  on  the  work.  Some  of 
the  chambers  had  closed  in  after  being  worked  out 
of  ore ;  others  have  been  filled  up  to  prevent  caving 
in  and  causing  great  disaster  overhead ;  but  many 
of  the  open  passages  were  stayed  or  braced  open 
still  with  huge  frame  work  of  timber  ;  more  lumber, 
indeed,  as  I  have  told  you,  I  believe,  is  used  for  this 
purpose  in  this  single  mine,  than  has  been  put  into 
a^  the  buildings  of  Virginia  City  itself,  with  its  ten 
thousand  to  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants.  And  in 
many  of  the  passages,  such  is  the  outward  pressure 
into  the  vacuum,  that  these  timbers,  as  big  as  a 
man's  body,  are  bent  and  splintered  almost  in  two. 


COMING    OUT    OF    THE    MINE.  319 

Great  pine  sticks,  eighteen  inches  square,  were 
thus  bent  like  a  bow,  or  yawned  with  gaping  splin 
ters  ;  and  the  spaces  left  in  some  places  for  us  to 
go  through  were  in  this  way  reduced  so  small  that 
we  almost  had  to  crawl  to  get  along. 

Do  you  wonder  that  we  began  to  grow  weary,  and 
thought  we  had  seen  enough  ?**  Besides,  the  mine 
was  oppressively  hot  and  close ;  the  mercury  was 
up  to  one  hundred  degrees  and  more,  and  the  sweat 
poured  from  us  like  water.  One  of  our  party  grew 
faint  and  feeble,  and  we  voted  to  take,  the  near 
est  way  out.  This  happened  to  be  the  most  peril 
ous  and  trying;  but  we  did  not  realize  that,  and 
our  miner  guide,  unsensitive  from  experience,  did 
not  think  of  it.  So  he  started  us  into  a  long  shaft, 
running  straight  up  and  down  for  several  hundreds 
of  feet,  dark  and  damp  as  night,  with  no  breaks  or 
landing  places,  and  set  us  going  one  after  another, 
up  a  perpendicular  ladder  fastened  to  its  side.  We 
only  took  in  a  sense  of  the  thing  after  we  had  got 
started ;  each  must  carry  his  lighted  candle,  hold 
on,  and  creep  ahead ;  a  single  misstep  by  any 
one,  the  fainting  of  our  invalid,  or  of  any  of  us,  all 
weary  and  unstrung,  would  not  only  have  plunged 
that  one  headlong  down  the  long  fatal  flight,  to  be 
come  a  very  Mantilinean  cold  body  at  the  bottom, 
but  would  have  swept  everybody  below  him  on  the 
ladder,  like  a  row  of  bricks,  to  the  same  destination 
and  destruction.  There  was,  you  may  well  believe, 
a  stern  summoning  of  all  remaining  strength  and 
nerves,  a  close,  firm  grip  on  the  rounds  of  the  lad 
der,  a  silent,  grave  procession,  much  and  rapid 


32O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

thought,  and  a  very  long  breath,  and  a  very  fervent 
if  voiceless  prayer,  when  we  got  to  the  daylight  and 
the  top.  Our  part  of  the  shaft  and  the  ladder  was 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet ;  it  seemed  very 
long ;  and  we  were  content  to  call  our  day's  work 
done  when  it  was  over.  Brains  won  the  victory 
over  body  ;  but  both  were  weary  enough  at  the  end. 
But  if  I  prolong  this  story  any  further,  you  will 
almost  wish  I  had  never  got  out  of  that  shaft ! 


LETTER     XXVIII. 

SOCIAL   LIFE    IN    SAN    FRANCISCO:    THE    WOMEN: 
RELIGION   AND    MINISTERS. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  August  30. 

You  must  be  a  very  indifferent  sort  of  person, 
and  have  no  friends,  to  escape  during  the  first  week 
of  a  visit  here  an  invitation  to  drive  out  to  the  Cliff 
House  for  breakfast  and  a  sight  of  the  sea-lions. 
This  is  the  one  special  pet  dissipation  of  San  Fran 
cisco,  the  very  trump  card  in  its  hospitality.  A 
night  among  the  Chinese  houses  and  gambling 
holes  is  reserved  as  a  choice  tit-bit  for  the  pruri 
ently  curious  few;  but  the  Cliff  and  the  seals  are 
for  all  ages  and  conditions  of  men  and  women. 
And,  indeed,  this  is  a  very  pleasant,  reviving  ex 
cursion.  A  drive  of  five  or  six  miles,  along  a  hard- 
made  road  over  the  intervening  sand-hills,  brings 
you  out  to  the  broad  Pacific,  rolling  in  and  out, 
"wide  as  waters  be."  You  strain  your  eyes  for 
Sandwich  Islands  and  China, — they  are  right  before 
you;  no  object  intervenes,  and  you  feel  that  you 
ought  to  see  them.  Just  at  the  right,  around  the 
corner,  is  the  Golden  Gate ;  and  vessels  are  passing 
in  and  out  the  bay.  A  rare  cliff  rock  places  you 
14*  21 


322  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

beyond  the  sands,  within  the  ocean ;  and  a  fine  hotel 
on  its  very  edge  offers  every  hospitality — at  a  price. 

Out  upon  half  a  dozen  fragmentary  rocks,  like 
solid  castles  moored  in  the  ocean  below  and  before, 
are  the  seals  and  the  pelicans.  The  rocks  are  cov 
ered  and  alive  with  them.  You  remember  Barnum's 
seals  at  New  York  and  Boston,  don't  you  ? — great 
sleek  and  slimy  amphibious  calves, — all  bodies,  small 
heads  and  short,  webby  feet, — bobbing  up  and  down 
in  their  water  tanks,  and  most  making  you  weep 
with  their  large,  liquid  human  eyes,  like  a  hunger 
ing,  sorrowing  woman's  ?  Well,  here  is  their  native 
water  and  rock;  from  these  rocks  they  were  cap 
tured,  and  here  by  twenties  and  fifties  you  see  their 
relations.  Crawling  up  from  the  water,  awkwardly 
and  blunderingly  like  babe  at  its  first  creeping,  they 
spread  themselves  in  the  sun  all  over  the  rocks, 
twenty  and  thirty  feet  high  sometimes,  and  lie  there 

if  comatose ;  anon  raising  the  head  to  look  about 
and  utter  a  rough,  wide-sounding  bark;  often  two 
or  three,  by  reason  of  a  fresh  squatter  on  their  ter 
ritory,  get  into  combat,  and  strike  and  bite  languidly 
at  one  another,  barking  and  grumbling  meanwhile 
like  long-lunged  dogs ;  and  again,  tired  of  discord 
or  weary  of  heaven,  they  plunge,  with  more  of  spring 
than  they  do  anything  else,  back  into  the  deep  sea. 
An  opera-glass  brings  them  close  to  yoif  upon  the 
hotel  piazza,  and  there  is  a  singular  fascination  in 
sitting  and  watching  their  performances.  They  are 
of  all  sizes  from  fifty  pounds  weight  up  to  two  hun 
dred  and  three  hundred.  Sea  gulls  and  pelicans, 
the  latter  huge  and  awkward  in  flight  as  turkeys, 


THE    PACIFIC    BEACH "SOCIETY.  323 

dispute  possession  of  the  rocks;  resting  in  great 
flocks,  or  with  loud  flaps  flying  around  and  around, 
overlooking  the  water  for  passing  food. 

Weary  of  these  sights,  the  visitor  seeks  neighbor 
ing  charming  coves  among  the  rocks  below,  and  lies 
there  out  of  the  wind,  watching  the  rolling  waves 
rising  and  breaking  over  the  island  rocks,  and 
sweeping  in  up  the  seducing  sands  to  toy  with  his 
feet.  And  again,  mounting  horse  or  carriage,  he 
rides  swiftly  and  smoothly  along  the  neighboring 
broad  beach  of  hard  sand  for  several  miles;  the 
unbroken,  wide-reaching,  long-rolling  ocean  is  be 
fore  his  sight ;  and  his  horse's  feet  dance  in  merry 
race  with  the  incoming  surf; — and  thus  solemnly 
awed  with  ocean  expanse,  alternate  with  dainty 
titillation  of  amused  senses,  he  closes  his  charming 
half  day  at  the  Cliff. 

"Society"  in  this  representative  town  of  the  Pa 
cific  Coast  is  somewhat  difficult  of  characterization. 
It  holds  in  chaos  all  sorts  of  elements ;  the  very 
best,  and  the  very  worst,  and  all  between.  There 
is  much  of  New  York  in  it,  much  of  St.  Louis  and 
Chicago,  and  a  good  deal  that  is  original  and  local ; 
born  of  wide  separation  from  the  centers  of  our 
best  social  civilization;  of  the  dominating  materi 
alism  and  masculineism  of  all  life  here ;  of  compar 
ative  lack  of  homes  and  families  and  their  influences. 
There  are  probably  more  bachelors,  great  lusty  fel 
lows,  who  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  themselves,  living 
in  hotels  or  in  "lodgings,"  in  this  town,  than  in  any 
place  of  its  size  in  the  world.  There  is  want  of 
femininity,  spirituality  in  the  current  tone  of  the 


324  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

place  ;  lack  of  reverence  for  women  ;  fewer  women 
to  reverence,  than  our  eastern  towns  are  accustomed 
to.  You  hear  more  than  is  pleasant  of  private 
scandals ;  of  the  vanity  and  weakness  of  women ; 
of  the  infidelity  of  wives.  "It  is  the  cussedest 
place  for  women,"  said  an  observant  Yankee  citizen, 
some  two  or  three  years  from  home,  and  not  forget 
ful  yet  of  mother,  sister  and  cousin, — "a  town  of 
men  and  taverns  and  boarding-houses  and  billiard- 
saloons." 

Yet  there  seem  to  be  plenty  of  women, — such 
as  they  are ;  and  Montgomery  Street  will  offer  the 
promenader  as  many  pretty  and  striking  faces,  per 
haps  more  in  proportion,  than  Washington  Street 
or  Broadway.  But  the  dominating  quality,  like 
mercy,  is  not  strained ;  it  savors  of  the  mannish- 
ness,  th2  materialism,  the  "fastness"  and  the  "loud- 
ness"  of  the  country;  and  paradoxical  as  it  may 
appear,  by  contrast  with  eastern  society,  the  men 
seem  of  a  higher  grade  than  the  women, — better 
for  men  than  the  latter  as  women.  Nor  is  this  in 
consistent  with  reason  ;  the  men,  dealing  with  great 
practical  necessities  and  duties,  are  less  harmed,  on 
the  whole,  by  the  dominant  materialism  of  life  here, 
than  the  women,  whose  pressing  responsibilities 
are  lower  and  fewer ; — as  a  fine,  delicate  blade  is 
more  roughened  in  cutting  the  way  through  bram 
ble  and  brush  than  a  tough  and  broader  edge. 

All  which  is  not  only  natural,  but  inevitable.  In 
all  new  countries,  where  the  first  fight  is  for  life 
and  wealth  with  rough  nature,  the  masculine  qual 
ity  must  ever  be  dominant ;  and  the  feminine  ele- 


HOW    THE    LADIES    DRESS.  325 

ments  must  be  influenced  by  it,  more  than  they  in 
fluence  it  in  turn.  The  senses  rule  the  spirit.  All 
civilization,  all  progress  tends  to  the  increase  of  the 
feminine  element  in  our  nature,  and  in  life ;  con 
trast  the  centuries,  and  we  see  it  creeping  in  every 
where,  in  men  and  women  alike,  in  religion,  in  in 
tellectual  culture,  in  art,  in  social  intercourse,— 
softening,  refining,  hallowing, — the  atmosphere  of 
all  modern  life  pictures.  Women,  who  possess  and 
represent  this  blossom  of  our  civilization,  are  by 
no  means  wanting  here, — no  more  perfect  speci 
mens  have  I  ever  met  anywhere;  tender,  tasteful, 
true ;  and  gaining  in  aggregate  influence  over  so 
ciety  day  by  day ;  but  yet  not  to-day  representing 
or  making  what  is  called  "society." 

The  ladies  generally  dress  in  good  taste.  Paris 
is  really  as  near  San  Francisco  as  New  York,  and 
there  are  many  foreign  families  here.  But  the  styles 
are  not  so  subdued  as  in  our  eastern  cities ;  a  high 
er  or  rather  louder  tone  prevails ;  rich,  full  colors, 
and  sharp  contrasts;  the  startling  effects  that  the 
Parisian  demi-monde  seeks, — these  are  seen  domi 
nating  here.  In  costliness  of  costume,  too,  there  is 
apparent  rivalry  am'on^the  San  Francisco  ladies. 
Extravagance  is  lamented  as  a  common  weakness 
among  them,  and  leading,  where  fortune  is  so  fickle 
as  here,  to  many  a  worse  one  often.  Perhaps  in  no 
other  American  city  would  the  ladies  invoice  so 
high  per  head  as  in  San  Francisco,  when  they  go 
out  to  the  opera,  or  to  party,  or  ball.  Their  point 
lace  is  deeper,  their  moire  antique  stiffer,  their  skirts 
a  trifle  longer,  their  corsage  an  inch  lower,  their 


326  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

diamonds  more  brilliant, — and  more  of  them, — than 
the  cosmopolite  is  likely  to  find  elsewhere. 

Another  " society"  item,  and  we  will  pass  on. 
The  common  dining  hour  being  five  and  six  o'clock, 
the  women  are  denied  the  esthetic,  gossiping  tea- 
party,  so  peculiar  to  New  England.  The  "lunch 
party "  is  their  substitute,  and  a  famous  feature  of 
feminine  social  life  it  is.  The  hour  is  from  high 
noon  to  two  o'clock,  when  the  men  are  busy  at  their 
work,  and  the  women  have  this  dissipation  all  to 
themselves.  Richer  and  more  various  as  a  meal 
are  the  lunches  than  the  teas  they  substitute ;  the 
eating  and  attendant  gossiping  often  absorb  a  whole 
afternoon,  leaving  the  participants  appetiteless,  it  is 
true,  for  the  family  dinner,  but  with  what  compen 
sating  material  for  garnishing  the  meal  for  the 
household!  I  have  never  even  so  much  as  seen 
through  a  crack  in  the  door  one  of  these  California 
feminine  lunch  parties  ;  but  confidential  confessions 
lead  me  to  give  them  a  high  place  in  the  social  fea 
tures  and  distractions  of  the  life  of  the  town.  And 
yet  for  high  art  in  the  line  of  the  delicate  but  in 
dustrious  scandal-mongering  and  the  virtuous  plot 
ting  against  masculine  authority,  that  we  are  wont 
to  attribute  to  these  exclusive  gatherings  of  our 
dear  sisters,  it  does  still  seem  to  me  that  the  New 
England  conjunction  of  twilight  and  green  hyson 
are  much  more  favorable.  Doubtless,  these  Cali 
fornia  Eves  are  bolder  in  their  habits,  as  becomes 
their  life  and  the  grosser  evils  they  are  the  victims 
of;  but  how  much  more  daintily  and  delicately  the 
stiletto  and  the  tongue,  the  knitting-needle  and  the 


THE    NEW   ENGLAND    SPIRIT    DOMINANT.        327 

eye  can  do  their  sweet  work  under  a  little  softening 
of  the  shadows  and  the  inspiration  of  hot  tea  on  a 
stomach  that  has  already  done  its  duty  for  the  day ! 

In  affairs  of  public  morals,  and  education  and  re 
ligion,  there  is  much  activity  in  San  Francisco,  and 
a  healthy  progress  in  the  right  direction  is  visibly 
constant.  The  New  England  elements  are  clearly 
dominant  here  and  through  the  whole  Pacific  Coast 
region ;  softened  from  their  old  Puritanic  habits, — 
marrying  themselves  to  the  freer  and  more  sensuous 
life  of  a  new  country  with  a  cosmopolitan  popula 
tion,  but  still  preserving  their  best  qualities  of  de 
cency  of  order,  of  justice,  of  constant  progress 
upward  in  morality  and  virtue.  The  "  Pikes  "  were 
the  first  people  all  over  this  country, — emigrants 
from  Missouri,  to  which  again  they  had  been  emi 
grants  from  the  southern  States, — and,  joined  to 
some  direct  importations  from  the  home  of  the 
chivalry,  they  gave  tone  to  society,  and  law,  or 
rather  want  of  law,  to  the  government  of  city  and 
State.  But  the  Vigilance  Committee  revolution  of 
ten  years  ago, — a  mob  in  the  interest  of  justice  and 
order  and  morality, — inaugurated  a  new  era.  That 
was  the  North  against  the  South, — the  clash  of 
their  civilizations ;  and  the  North,  seizing  the  in 
strumentalities  of  violence,  rose  and  destroyed  vio 
lence  itself.  Since  then,  there  has  been  a  steady, 
though  struggling  and  sometimes  hesitating,  im 
provement  in  the  character  of  all  the  life  of  city 
and  Coast. 

Ambition  and  pride  in  the  things  that  are  re 
spectable  and  proper  are  singularly  prominent ;  and 


328  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

men  contribute  lavishly  to  build  fine  school-houses 
and  support  churches,  whose  lives  are  not  especially 
controlled  by  the  influences  that  school-houses  and 
churches  create.  The  gamblers  give  way  gracious 
ly  to  the  progress  towards  decency  and  respecta 
bility,  and  join  in  outward  observance  of  the  Sab 
bath,  help  to  build  churches,  and  make  orderly  the 
street  life  of  the  town.  It  is  very  interesting  to 
watch  the  various  stages  of  this  progress  upward, 
from  the  new  mining  town  of  one  or  two  years' 
life,  up  to  San  Francisco  and  Portland,  which  are 
the  fullest  flower  of  Pacific  civilization.  The  order 
and  decorum  of  the  streets  of  these  two  cities  are 
as  perfect  as  those  of  Boston;  the  San  Francisco 
police  system  is  admirable,  and  a  woman  may  walk 
the  streets  of  this  city  in  the  evening,  with  less 
danger  of  insult  and  annoyance,  than  in  those  of 
Springfield,  even. 

Money  is  lavished,  even,  on  the  school-houses, 
which  are  the  most  stately  and  elegant  buildings  in 
town,  and  the  schools  themselves  have  all  the  "  mod 
ern  improvements,"  good  and  bad.  /  There  is  spe 
cial  life,  too,  in  the  churches;  the  Sabbath  is  cer 
tainly  as  well  observed  as  in  New  York ;  the  con 
gregations  are  large,  day  and  evening;  the -Sunday 
schools  even  boast  of  a  larger  attendance,  in  pro 
portion  to  the  population,  than  those  of  any  other 
city  in  the  country ;  new  church  edifices  are  con 
stantly  going  up;  and,  as  your  eastern  parishes 
have  reason  to  know,  there  is  an  eager  seeking  of 
the  broadest  and  best  pulpit  talent  to  fill  them. 
The  demand  seems  to  be  for  smart,  effective  ora- 


THE    CLERGY REV.  MR.  STEBBINS.  329 

tors,  as  well  as  holy  men;  and  the  churches  are 
not  easily  pleased. 

Among  the  "orthodox"  preachers,  Rev.  Dr. 
Wadsworth,  from  Philadelphia,  perhaps  ranks  first ; 
and  his  society,  a  Presbyterian  one,  is  probably  the 
largest  and  richest  of  that  order.  He  is  more  of  a 
scholar  than  an  orator,  however ;  but  is  greatly  re 
spected  and  beloved.  Just  now,  Rev.  Dr.  Scudder, 
from  Boston,  is  making  his  debut  as  pastor  of  one 
of  the  Presbyterian  societies,  and  is  drawing  large 
houses.  He  has  a  free,  popular,  Ward  Beecher 
style  of  talking  in  the  pulpit,  which,  if  really  genu 
ine  and  natural,  will  undoubtedly  help  him  to  per 
manent  popularity  and  usefulness  here.  The  Con 
gregational  society,  that  bid  so  high  for  Rev.  A.  L. 
Stone,  of  Boston,  is  still  in  the  market  for  a  first- 
class  preacher.  Rev.  Horatio  Stebbins,  of  the  Uni 
tarian  church,  which  can  boast  a  larger  parish  in 
come  than  any  society  in  America,  is,  of  course, 
chief  among  the  liberals ;  and  his  many  New  Eng 
land  friends  will  be  rejoiced  to  know  that  he  has 
won  a  high  position  already  among  the  intellectual 
and  religious  leaders  in  California  society.  Starr 
King's  peculiar  popularity  and  remarkable  career 
here  made  it  hard  for  any  one  to  come  after  him  in 
the  same  pulpit;  nobody  could  fill  his  place;  for 
that  matter,  no  man  was  ever  great  enough  to  fill 
anybody's  else  place:  but  it  was  early  found  that 
Mr.  Stebbins  could  make  a  place  for  himself,  and 
fill  it  too.  And  this  he  has  done.  His  superiority 
in  pure  intellectual  and  spiritual  qualities  is  con 
ceded  ;  and  I  have  heard  prominent  citizens,  with 


330  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

no  partial  kinship  to  his  church  to  influence  their 
opinion,  speak  of  him  often  as  the  first  man  in  in 
tellect  on  the  Coast.  His  first  year  here  is  now 
closing,  and  though  his  salary  is  six  thousand  dol 
lars  a  year  in  gold,  his  friends  have  just  made  him 
up  an  anniversary  gift  of  four  thousand  dollars 
(gold),  by  way  of  indicating  that  they  know  him 
and  like  him,  and  to  repair  ^the  damages  of  his  re 
moval  from  the  East. 

There  is  large  extra  demand  upon  all  the  clergy 
men  here  for.  leadership  in  all  literary  and  moral 
enterprises,  in  all  matters,  indeed,  involving  the 
public  well-being.  Mr.  Stebbins  has  been  particu 
larly  called  upon  for  public  addresses  during  the 
past  season ;  and  there  is  also  much  impatience  for 
his  presence  and  preaching  among  the  liberal  relig 
ious  populations  of  the  interior  and  of  Oregon, 
where  no  societies  of  his  faith  yet  exist, — so  that 
there  is  an  especial  need  of  an  able  associate  and 
assistant  to  divide  his  great  and  growing  field  and 
severe  duties  with  him.* 

In  the  country  parishes,  particularly  in  the  min 
ing  districts,  the  religious  organizations  are  not  so 
flourishing.  The  populations  have  decreased  in 
many  cases ; — there  is  nothing  more  desolate,  in 
deed,  than  the  appearance  and  prospects  of  these 
interior  mining  villages,  the  interest,  which  gave 
them  sudden  rise  and  prosperity,  all  gone  or  nearly 

*  Such  provision  has  since  been  made  by  the  Unitarian  organi 
zation  in  the  East,  and  Rev.  Charles  G.  Ames  of  Albany  has  gone 
out  to  California  for  this  very  purpose.  He  has  excellent  qualities 
for  such  service,  and  will  admirably  supplement  Mr.  Stebbins'  pe 
culiar  talents,  and  labors. 


A   FIELD    FOR   MISSIONARIES.  33! 

spent,  and  nothing  taking  its  place ; — and  the  ability 
to  fill  the  churches  and  pay  the  clergyman  is  cor 
respondingly  reduced.  The  people  who  remain  are 
uniformly  generous  and  self-sacrificing  in  support 
ing  the  institutions  of  religion,  but  divided  up  into 
the  various  sects,  each  with  its  meeting-house,  and 
its  zealous  pride  of  doctrine,  no  one  of  them  has 
power  to  support  a  minister  creditably.  Many 
clergymen  are  therefore  going  away,  literally  starved 
out ;  and  numerous  districts  of  interior  California 
are  actually  becoming  missionary  fields.  All  this 
Coast  and  its  interior  mining  districts  have  great 
need  to-day  of  earnest,  unsectarian  Christian  min 
isters  and  missionaries.  The  people  are  in  the 
main  responsive  to  right  appeal ;  they  are  eager  to 
develop  all  the  institutions  and  elements  of  the  best 
civilization,  and  will  contribute  liberally  of  money, 
whenever  they  have  it,  in  aid  thereof;  but  it  is  no 
holiday  work  that  invites  those  who  would  lead 
them.  The  men  and  women,  who  engage  in  it, 
should  come  with  resolute  heart,  and  the  power  and 
willingness  to  rough  it  in  some  respects,  and  come 
to  stay  at  least  five  years, — not  for  a  selfish  pleasure 
trip  to  see  the  country,  and  pay  expenses  by  preach 
ing  and  prospecting  in  the  mines.  This  country 
has  had  enough  of  that  sort  of  martyr-missionaries  ; 
they  are  of  most  profit  to  the  steamship  companies ; 
but  for  men  of  the  other  sort,  there  is  no  more  in 
teresting  or  fruitful  or  pressing  field  of  labor,  the 
world  over,  than  this  New  Nation  of  our  West. 

In  all  these  matters,  to  which  I  have  devoted 
this  letter, — society,  manners,  morals,  education,  re- 


332  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

ligion, — the  great  want,  the  great  reformer,  is  the 
Pacific  Railroad.  These,  as  much  as  mines  and 
commerce,  await  the  vivifying  and  elevating  influ 
ence  of  that  great  instrumentality.  Every  discus 
sion  of  the  interests  and  the  needs  of  this  half  of 
our  Continent  ends  here.  Air  life  on  the  Coast  is 
a  circle  leading  to  that.  Everybody  here  sees  this, 
realizes  it,  far  more  painfully  than  .you  possibly  can 
in  the  East.  I  borrow  the  philosophical  and  im 
pressive  words  of  Rev.  Mr.  Stebbins,  in  closing  his 
sermon  last  Sunday,  to  repeat  this  idea  to  you, — to 
show  you  how  it  is  felt  here,  and  how  you  ought  to 
feel  it  there  :— 

"The  primeval  command  to  *  replenish  and  subdue'  the  earth,  is 
promulgated  anew  to  us  on  these  outer  borders  of  the  world.  We, 
upon  this  Coast,  need,  above  all  material  advantage,  as  the  condi 
tion  of  a  noble  social  life  and  progress,  an  unbroken  and  swift  com 
munication  by  railway  and  magnetic  circuit  with  the  places  which 
we  still  fondly  call  our  Home.  The  social  effect  of  such  relations 
would  be  unspeakable  in  giving  permanence  and  quiet  to  society. 
This  longing,  that  comes  Jike  the  sigh  of  the  night-wind  over  the 
habitations  of  men,  would  be  hushed.  When  the  continental  rail 
way  and  the  ocean  line  to  China  shall  be  complete,  the  London  cos 
mopolite  will  make  the  circuit  of  the  globe  in  ninety  days,  and  we 
shall  be  nourished  by  the  blood  of  the  heart  of  the  world.  Intelli 
gence  will  be  increased,  society  liberalized  by  intercourse,  and  ex 
temporaneous  adventure  driven  out  by  better  industries,  as  in  the 
olden  time  the  temple  of  God  was  cleared  of  money-changers  by 
the  presence  of  a  superior  spirit.  Men  have  been  attracted  here  by 
the  dangerous  and  corrupting  passion  for  gold.  The  inherent  ten 
dencies  to  barbarism  in  that  adventure  can  be  overcome  and  neu 
tralized  only  by  assimilation  with  the  best  forms  of  society,  and 
bringing  these  distant  places  into  close  proximity  with  civilization, 
that  the  whole  world  may  be  tributary  of  its  best  things. 

"It  is  not  wise  for  us  to  flatter  ourselves, with  false  appearances 
or  expectations.  The  bare  historic  fact  is,  that  no  fine  state  of  hu- 


REV.  MR.  STEBBINS  ON  CALIFORNIA  SOCIETY.   333 

man  society  has  ever  existed  over  gold  mines.  And  the  only  ground 
of  expectation  we  have,  that  society  here  will  prove  an  exception  to 
the  general  law,  is,  that  the  compensating  influences  of  a  beneficent 
government  and  swift  communication  with  the  world  of  mankind 
will  give  us  the  laws,  the  manners  and  the  religion  which  no  gold- 
producing  country  has  ever  been  able  to  make  for  itself.  Man,  here 
on  these  shores,  contends  not  merely  with  the  unreclaimed  powers 
of  nature,  as  the  pioneer  of  New  England  or  the  Mississippi  valley,* 
but  natuie  herself  is  dishonest.  She  bribes  and  corrupts  him,  and 
plays  a  trick  on  all  his  being.  She  sneers  at  his  industry,  makes 
his  business  a  joke,  and  his  word  a  lie.  The  world  must  be  im 
ported  here  to  make  nature  honest,  and  outwit  her  secret  arts. 
Nothing  can  save  us  from  Spanish  decline  and  Mexic  littleness  but 
communication  with  the  world;  that  rapid  and  sure  intercourse 
with  human  society,  which  assimilates  the  interests  and  the  life  of 
mankind.  And  I  make  this  moral  predicament  concerning  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  our  State  :  That  the  powers  which  have 
made  her  prosperous  thus  far  have  done  their  best,  and  that  no  great 
impulse  of  human  affairs,  having  breadth  and  hight  and  depth  of 
permanent,  untiring  progress,  can  be  felt  here  until  the  great  high 
ways  are  opened  over  sea  and  land ;  and  the  world,  the  many-sided 
world  of  industries  and  arts,  and  commerce  and  literature,  is  im 
ported  to  us.  The  primeval  command  comes  to  us  with  the  aug 
mented  authority  of  our  providential  vocation,  and  is  reiterated  to 
us'in  original  sublimity  of  moral  law  from  every  mountain  summit 
which  nature  raises  up  as  a  barrier  to  our  assimilation  with  the  Na 
tion  and  mankind.  It  is  only  by  the  introduction  of  new  powers 
that  we  can  conserve  those  we  have.  Compared  with  this  all  other 
questions  for  us  are  idle.  And  the  people  of  California  can  make 
no  better  investment  of  their  time,  their  talents,  their  money,  or 
their  public  spirit, — and  I  would  that  I  could  persuade  you  to  be 
lieve  it  and  quit  all  your  lesser  contradictions, — than  in  turning  all 
the  powers  of  the  State  to  overcome  the  barriers  which  lie  between 
her  and  the  Nation's  hearthstone,  between  her  and  the  heart  of  the 
world. 

"Human  society  is  made  for  religion: — for  the  ends  and  aims 
which  religion  suggests.  Whatever  promotes  the  assimilation  of 
mankind,  whatever  brings  nations  and  peoples  into  communion, 
thus  supplementing  each  other  in  the  completeness  of  humanity,  is 
a  step  in  the  advancing  kingdom  of  God.  This  earth  is  a  musical 
instrument  not  yet  fully  strung.  When  every  Coast  shall  be  peo- 


334  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

pled,  every  mountain  barrier  overcome,  every  abyss  spanned,  and 
the  peoples  of  the  earth  shall  flow  together  as  in  prophetic  vision 
to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house,  and  harmony  of  common 
good  shall  persuade  the  lion  and  the  Jamb;  when  laws  shall  be 
greater  than  conflict,  and  order  than  violence ;  when  manners  shall 
enrobe  the  races  as  a  garment  of  beauty,  and  religion  congerve  soci 
ety  as  virtue  conserves  the  soul, — then  this  earth  shall  give  its  sound 
in  harmony  with  the  infinite  intelligence,  and  the  providential  pur 
pose  shall  gleam  from  every  summit  as  the  beacon  lights  of  man 
kind." 

These  are,  indeed,  solemn,  majestic  truths,  most 
impressively  stated.  I  would  that  they  reach  every 
soul,  East  and  West,  and  bring  forth  early,  earnest 
fruit. 


LETTER    XXIX. 

CLIMATE    AND    PRODUCTIONS:    COST    OF    LIVING: 
THE    CURRENCY    QUESTION:    THE    MINT. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  August  31. 

THE  climate  of  all  this  Pacific  side  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  is  one  in  its  distinctive  qualities.  As  a 
change  from  that  of  the  Atlantic  States,  there  can 
.be  no  doubt  'of  its  beneficial  influence  upon  the 
health,  both  because  it  is  a  change,  and  because  it 
is  less  variable.  It  offers  none  of  those  wide  sweeps 
of  temperature  that,  both  in  degree  and  in  sudden 
ness,  so  try  a  weak  constitution,  and  break  down  a 
strong  one.  Snow  an  d  ice  are  things  unknown  out 
of  the  mountains,  in  California,  Oregon  and  Nevada. 
The  summer  sun  is  fiercer  than  in  the  Middle  and 
New  England  States ;  but  its  oppressiveness  is 
-broken  by  a  constant  vitality  in  the  air,  and  uni 
formly  cool  nights,  that  do  not  accompany  your 
July  and  August  weather  in  the  East  Neither  the 
long  summer  drouth  nor  the  winter  rains  appear 
to  be  an  element  of  ill  health  or  even  of  great  dis 
comfort  to  an  invalid  in  themselves.  The  rains  are 
not  oppressive  save  in  the  central  valley  of  Oregon ; 
and  their  chief  inconvenience  is  felt  in  the  mud  in 
the  country,  as  that  of  the  summer's  drouth  is  in 


336  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

the  deep  and  sensitive  dust,  both  making  walking 
and  riding  off  the  pavements  a  great  trial  to  clean 
liness  and  comfort. 

But  the  evenness  of  the  climate  and  the  inde 
scribable  inspiration  of  the  air  are  the  great  features 
of  life  here,  and  the  great  elements  in  its  health. 
There  is  a  steady  tone  in  the  atmosphere,  like  draft 
of  champagne,  or  subtle  presence  of  iron.  It  in 
vites  to  labor,  and  makes  it  possible.  Horses  can 
travel  more  miles  here  in  a  day  than  at  the  East ; 
and  men  and  women  feel  impelled  to  an  unusual 
activity.  San  Francisco,  which  has  the  advantage 
of  the  interior  in  a  cooler  summer,  probably  offers 
more  working  days  in  the  year  than  any  other  town 
or  city  in  America ;  less  occasion  fo*  loss  from  bad 
weather  and  consequent  ill-health.  But  this  city* 
though  favorable  to  preserving  health,  is  bad  for 
regaining  it.  Its  doctors  say  it  is  the  easiest  place 
to  keep  well  in,  but  the  hardest  to  get  well  in. 
They  send  their  invalids  into  the  country. 

It  is  too  early  yet  to  determine  the  permanent 
influences  of  the  climate  of  the  Pacific  Coast  upon 
the  race.  The  fast  and  rough  life  of  the  present 
generation  here  is  not  sure  basis  for  calculation. 
But  the  indications  are  that  the  human  stock  will 
be  improved  both  in  physical  and  nervous  qual 
ities.  The  children  are  stout  and  lusty.  The 
climate  invites  and  permits  with  impunity  such  a 
large  open-air  life  that  it  could  hardly  be  otherwise. 
There  is  great  freedom  from  lung  difficulties  ;  but 
the  weakness  of  the  country  is  in  nervous  affections. 

The  journey  hither  is  a  serious  and  tedious  one, 


THE   FRUITS    OF    CALIFORNIA.  337 

either  by  land  or  water,  and  no  really  weak  invalid 
should  undertake  it.  But  persons  with  a  tendency 
to  weak  lungs,  or  with  a  low  physical  system  that 
is  being  sapped  by  our  rough  eastern  changes  in 
temperature,  can  undoubtedly  come  over  here  with 
advantage,  and  secure  a  longer  and  a  heartier  life. 
San  Francisco  is  no  place  for  a  weak  lung  in  sum 
mer,  however;  the  interior  valleys  must  then  be 
resorted  to  by  those  thus  afflicted;  but  in  winter 
this  city  is  as  favorable  a  residence  for  health  as  any 
in  the  State. 

The  abundance  and  variety  of  fruits  and  vegeta 
bles,  .and  their  great  size  and  vigorous  health,  con 
tinue  to  be  a  surprise  and  a  pleasure  here.  No 
State  in  the  Union  has  such  wealth  in  these  respects 
as  California.  Nearly  everything  that  the  temperate 
and  torrid  zones  unite  to  offer  is  hers  by  birth-right 
or  domestication.  The  southern  counties  send  up 
figs  and  oranges  and  bananas  and  tenderest  of 
grapes ;  the  northern,  apples  in  abundance ;  and 
peaches,  strawberries,  plums,  blackberries  and  pears 
come  from  all.  And  gnarled  or  wormy  fruit  is  never 
seen  ;  everything  is  round,  fair  and  large.  So  of 
vegetables, — the  range  is  wide  ;  only  Indian  corn  is 
fastidious  and  requires  to  be  humored ;  and  the  size 
and  perfection  of  shape  and  vigor  of  health  are 
uniformly  such  as  are  seen  in  the  East  only  at  cattle 
show  exhibitions  and  in  small  quantities. 

But  the  fastidious  Yankee,  who  never  forgets  his 
home  or  his  mother's  pies  and  preserves,  insists 
that  the  quality  of  the  fruit  and  vegetables  is  below 
that  of  the  productions  of  the  orchards  and  gardens 


338  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

of  the  Middle  States  and  New  England, — that 
there  is  just  a  lower  flavor  and  delicacy  in  them; 
a  sacrifice  of  piquancy  and  richness  to  perfection  of 
shape  and  bulk.  It  may  be  this  is  only  an  illustra 
tion  ot  that  great  moral  truth  that  Burton  used  to 
impress  upon  his  Chambers  street  theater  audiences, 
"that  the "sassengers  of  infancy  never  return  ;"  and 
yet  I  am  inclined  to  believe  there  is  really  some 
thing  in  it.  But  he  must  be  an  ungrateful  churl, 
however,  who  is  not  content  with  the  wealth  and 
variety  that  nature  offers  us  here  for  food,  and  at 
comparatively  low  prices,  too.  The  table  can  be 
both  better  and  more  cheaply  spread  in  nearly  all 
respects  here  in  San  Francisco,  than  in  any  other 
American  city  at  this  moment.  Butter,  perhaps,  is 
a  weak  point,  and  so  is  fish ;  for  though  the  fish  of 
the  Pacific  are  generally  the  same  in  species  and 
appearance  as  those  of  the  East,  the  quality  is  con 
fessedly  and  uniformly  below.  Everything  in  the 
markets,  however,  is  sold  by  the  pound ;  potatoes 
and  grains  and  fruit,  as  well  as  meat  and  butter. 
But  this  is  surely  the  fairest  test.  Weight  is  the 
finest  measure  of  the  real  worth  of  all  food ;  and  why 
should  it  not  be  applied  to  all  as  to  some  articles  ? 
The  best  time  to  see  this  country  is  in  the  spring. 
From  February  to  June,  when  the  rains  are  dwin 
dling  away  to  greet  the  summer  drouth,  and  vege 
tation  of  all  sorts  comes  into  its  freshest,  richest 
life,  then,  according  to  all  testimony,  is  the  most 
charming  season  for  the  traveler.  All  these  now 
bare  and  russet  hills,  these  dead  and  drear  plains, 
are  then  alive  with  vigorous  green,  disputed,  shaded 


THE    TIME   TO    VISIT    CALIFORNIA.  339 

and  glorified  with  all  the  rival  and  richer  colors. 
The  wild  flowers  of  California  fairly  carpet  all  the 
uncultivated  ground.  No  June  prairie  of  Illinois ; 
no  garden  of  eastern  culture  can  rival  them.  For 
luxuriance,  for  variety  and  depth  and  hight  of  color, 
for  complete  occupation  of  the  hills  and  the  plains, 
all  agree  that  there  is  nothing  like  it  to  be  seen  any 
where  else  in  nature.  Then,  too,  the  trees  are  clean 
and  fresh ;  the  live  oak  groves  are  enriched  to  bril 
liant  gardens  by  the  flowers  and  grass  below ;  and 
the  pine  and  fir  forests  hold  majestic  yet  tender 
watch  over  all  the  various  new  life  of  the  woods. 
Those  who  would  visit  the  Pacific  States  under  the 
most  favorable  circumstances,  for  seeing  all  their 
natural  beauty,  and  studying  all  their  improved  re 
sources,  would  do  best  to  come  around  by  sea  in 
February,  and  go  home  overland  in  September  or 
October.  That  would  afford  ample  time  to  observe 
everything  leisurely,  and  at  its  best  estate.  After 
the  first  two  or  three  days  out  from  New  York,  the 
voyage  at  this  season  of  starting  is  made  under 
mild  and  pleasant  skies  on  both  sides  the  Continent. 
It  is  not  easy  to  make  any  exact  comparison  be 
tween  the  cost  of  living  here  and  that  at  the  East. 
Prices  of  everything,  both  here  and  there,  are  now 
much  unsettled  and  fickle ;  what  might  be  true  to 
day  would  be  wholly  changed  next  week.  Then 
here,  there  is  a  lack  of  settled  and  uniform  habits 
or  scales  of  living ;  an  irregular,  fitful  extravagance 
prevails ;  in  luck,  to-day,  a  man  drinks  champagne 
and  flaunts  his  jewelry*  at  the  Occidental;  while 
to-morrow,  fortune  frowning,  he  is  sponging  a  din- 


34O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

ner  and  a  drink  from  his  friends,  and  takes  a  fifty- 
cent  lodging  at  the  What  Cheer  House.  Large 
profits  are  generally  demanded  by  the  traders; 
nothing  is  sold  for  less  than  "two  bits"  (twenty-five 
cents) ;  and  a  fifty-cent  piece  is  the  lowest  coin  that 
it  is  respectable  to  carry,  or  throw  to  the  man  who 
waters  your  horse.  As  a  general  rule,  no  statement 
can  be  more  intelligent  than  that  it  costs  about  as 
much  to  live  in  San  Francisco  in  gold  as  it  does  in 
Boston  and  New  York  in  greenbacks.  Food,  and 
consequently  board,  is  cheaper  than  this  here ;  but 
dry  goods  and  luxuries  are  generally  more.  At  the 
best  hotels,  the  Occidental  and  Cosmopolitan,  the 
price  is  three  dollars  a  day  in  gold,  which  is  the 
same  as  the  four  dollars  and  fifty  cents  per  diem  in* 
greenbacks  of  your  first  New  York  and  Boston 
houses. 

The  "What  Cheer  House"  is  the  famous  resort 
for  miners  and  mechanics ;  and  it  has  made  several 
fine  fortunes  in  furnishing  meals  and  beds  at  fifty 
cents  each.  Some  of  the  features  of  this  establish* 
ment  are  original  and  noteworthy.  It  has  an  es 
pecial  office  for  receiving 'clothes  to  be  washed  and 
mended,  a  well  chosen  popular  library  with  five 
thousand  volumes,  full  files  of  newspapers  and 
magazines,  an  extensive  and  valuable  cabinet  of 
minerals,  and  a  beautiful  collection  of  stuffed  birds, 
all  for  the  accommodation  and  entertainment  of  its 
guests.  Its  reading  room  is  generally  well-filled 
with  plain,  rough-looking  men,  each  with  book  or 
newspaper  in  hand.  The  rule  of  the  establishment 
is  for  every  guest  to  buy  a  supply  of  tickets  for 


THE   SAN   FRANCISCO    MARKETS.  34! 

mearls  and  lodgings  on  his  arrival,  and  the  proprietor 
redeems  with  cash  what  have  not  been  used  up 
when  the  customer  leaves. 

A  "drink"  at  an  aristocratic  San  Francisco  bar  is 
two  bits  (twenty-five  cents),  at  a  more  democratic 
establishment  one  bit  (ten  cents).  There  is  no  coin 
in  i^se  less  than  a  dime  (ten  cents);  one  of  these 
answers  as  "a  bit;"  two  of  them  will  pass  for  two 
bits,  or  twenty-five  cents;  but  the  man  who  often 
offers  two  dimes  for  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  is  voted  a 
"  bummer."  Some  quotations  from  the  retail  family 
markets  will  still  further  illustrate  the  prices  of  food 
and  living  here :  butter  seventy-five  cents  a  pound, 
eggs  seventy  cents  a  dozen,  hams  and  bacon  thirty 
cents  a  pound,  potatoes  one  to  two  and  one-half 
cents  a  pound,  cauliflowers  one  dollar  to  one  dollar 
and  twenty-five  cents  per*  dozen,  green  peas  five  to 
ten  cents  a  pound,  apples  four  to  ten  cents  a  pound, 
peaches  five  to  ten  cents  a  pound,  pears  three  to  ten 
cents,  grapes  three  to  ten  cents,  new  figs  eight  to 
fifteen  cents  a  pound,  dried  figs  twenty  to  forty 
cents,  chickens  seventy-five  cents  apiece,  turkeys 
thirty  cents  a  pound,  ducks  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents 
to  two  dollars  a  pair,  quails  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents 
per  dozen,  rabbits  thirty-seven  cents  a  pair,  fresh 
salmon  eight  to  twelve  cents  a  pound,  smelts  ten 
cents  a  pound,  sea  bass  five  to  ten  cents,  codfish  ten 
to  twelve  cents,  oranges  four  dollars  to  four  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  per  hundred,  lard  thirty-three  cents 
a  pound.  French  and  English  dry  goods  at  auction 
sold  like  this: — Brussels  carpets  one* dollar  and 
twenty- five  cents  to  one  dollar  and  sixty-seven 


342  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

cents,  velvet  carpets  one  dollar  and  sixty  cents  to 
two  dollars  and  fifteen  cents,  broadcloth  two  dollars 
and  forty-five  cents  to  three,  dollars,  black  silks  two 
dollars  and  fifteen  cents  to  two  dollars  and  eighty- 
five  cents,  plain  wool  delaines  twenty-seven  to  thirty 
cents,  number  five  ribbons  one  dollar  to  one  dollar 
and  seyen  cents,  satinets  fifty  to  sixty-two  c^its. 
These  latter  are  wholesale  rates,  of  course,  and  all 
the  figures  quoted  are  for  specie. 

My  readers  will  infer,  what  I  think  I  have  not  ex 
plicitly  stated  before,  that  the  currency  of  these 
States  is  gold  and  silver.  Paper  money  has  been 
kept  out  by  the  force  of  a  very  obstinate  public 
opinion  and  the  instrumentality  of  State  legislation. 
Our  national  currency  of  greenbacks  are  seen  here 
simply  as  merchandise ;  you  buy  and  sell  them  at 
the  brokers,  for  about  seventy-five  cents  in  coin  to 
the  dollar.  Of  course  being  made  a  "legal  tender" 
by  United  States  law,  it  is  competent  to  pay  a  debt 
here  with  them ;  but  no  man  who  should  do  this 
once,  without  the  sum  being  made  proportionately 
larger  of  course,  could  henceforth  have  any  credit 
or  standing  in  the  mercantile  community.  All  large 
and  long  credits  are  now  coupled  with  an  express 
stipulation  that  they  are  on  a  specie  footing,  and  a 
law  of  the  State,  known  as  the  "specific  contract 
act,"  protects  such  arrangements.  But  public  opin 
ion  so  far,  and  in  all  the  small  daily  transactions  of 
trade,  is  the  great  and  controlling  law  on  the  subject. 

These  Pacific  States  never  having  had  any  paper 
money  of  meir  own,  and  producing  plenty  of  the 
material  for  coin,  with  a  mint  for  its  manufacture,  it 


THE  "GREENBACK"  QUESTION.  343 

was  very  natural,  though  unquestionably  selfish  and 
unpatriotic,  for  them  to  resist  the  debasement  and 
superseclure  of  their  currency  by  the  legal  tender 
notes,  which  the  general  government  resorted  to' 
for  means  to  carry  on  the  war.  Their  motive  in 
excluding  them  was,  of  course,  to  protect  their  busi 
ness  operations  from  the  dangerous  derangements, 
often  spreading  a  wide  financial  ruin,  that  are  the 
common  accompaniments  of  a  cheap  and  abundant 
currency.  But  since  only  activity  and  prosperity 
are  seen  to  have  resulted  in  the  eastern  States, — 
while  depression  and  dullness  have  been  creeping 
over  affairs  in  these  States, — there  has  been  a  grad 
ual  change  in  public  sentiment  on  the  subject.  Out 
of  San  Francisco,  and  especially  in  Oregon  and 
Nevada,  there  is  evidently  a  preponderating  feeling 
now  in  favor  of  introducing  the  national  currency. 
The  principal  arguments  for  it  are,  that  the  States 
here  ought  to  share  in  all  the  responsibilities  of 
their  sisters  in  the  East ;  if  the  paper  money  con 
fers  benefits,  they  should  be  enjoyed  here;  if  bur 
dens,  they  too  should  be  assumed  by  those  that  are 
proud  to  belong  to  the  national  Republic.  The 
friends  of  the  introduction  also  argue  that  it  wou-ld 
make  money  more  abundant  and  cheaper,  and 
largely  increase  the  tendency  of  eastern  capitalists 
to  make  heavy  investments  on  this  Coast,  and  so 
give  new  life  and  prosperity  to  all  business  here. 

But  San  Francisco,  as  the  center  of  all  the  busi 
ness  and  financial  operations  of  these  States,  holds 
all  firmly  to  the  present  state  of  things  Her 
merchants  and  bankers  have  prospered  all  along; 


344  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

many  o  them  are  foreigners,  and  represent  foreign 
capital ;  and  they  are  not  only  content  to  keep  the 
business  of  the  country  on  a  specie  basis,  but  are 
determined  that  it  shall  be  so  kept.  They  argue 
that  these  States  do  not  need  capital  so  much  as 
labor ;  not  money  so  much  as  emigration  ;  and  that 
while,  as  matters  have  now  turned  out,  it  might 
have  been  well  to  have  accepted  the  government 
paper  at  the  start,  and  gradually  come  to  its  in 
fluence  upon  prices  and  business,  as  we  did  in  the 
East,  it  would  create  great  confusion  and  disorder 
to  make  the  revolution  at  the  present  time,  when 
there  is  a  difference  of  fifty  per  cent,  between  the 
two  currencies,  and  the  prices  based  upon  them; 
and,  consequently,  that  it  is  better  to  continue  as 
they  have  begun,  and  await  the  return  of  the  cur 
rency  of  the  East  to  the  coin  standard. 

The  question  is  being  vigorously  discussed ;  it  is, 
indeed,  the  only  live  issue  in  the  politics  of  these 
States ;  but  so  far  San  Francisco  holds  dominance 
over  all  the  interior,  and  keeps  out  the  greenbacks. 
The  tendency  of  opinion  and  affairs  is  against  her, 
however ;  and  the  day  for  a  change  may  not  be  so 
far  distant  as  it  superficially  seems.  The  bankers 
evidently  intend  to  control  the  subject ;  and  when 
they  find  they  must  yield,  they  will  lead,  and  be  the 
first  to  introduce  the  paper  money.  As  it  now 
stands,  however,  the  question  is  a  difficult  and  per 
plexing  one  to  manage  practically.  It  is  even 
doubtful  if  the  government  could  spare  enough 
currency  from  the  East  to  answer  for  the  business 
of  these  States,  so  far  away  from  the  financial  and 


THE    MINT  AT   SAN    FRANCISCO.  345 

government  centers  that  they  cannot  draw  supplies 
in  one  or  two  days,  as  all  your  eastern  commercial 
points  can.  Certainly  it  will  require  the  co-opera 
tion  of  the  government  at  Washington  and  of  the 
State  governments  here,  with  all  the  facilities  of 
the  bankers  of  this  city,  to  introduce  the  change 
now  without  great  interruption  to  the  progress  of 
trade  and  possitje  ruin  to  many  delicate  interests. 
Utah  and  Colorado  have  the  paper  money  of  the 
East  in  use ;  but  all  the  States  and  Territories  this 
side  of  them  employ  only  gold  and  silver,  in  sym 
pathy  with  the  fountain  head  of  San  Francisco. 

Of  all  the  government  institutions  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  the  Mint  is  the  most  interesting  and  impor 
tant.  Already  it  is  the  great  manufactory  of  coin 
in  the  Nation,  and  its  comparative  importance  in 
this  respect  is  destined  to  increase.  It  coins  now 
about  twenty  millions  of  gold  and  silver  a  year, 
against  five  millions  coined  at  all  the  other  govern 
ment  mints  in  the  country,  including  the  parent 
mint  at  Philadelphia.  The  coinage  here  for  June 
and  July  was  nearly  three  millions  a  month,  and  the 
aggregate  for  this  year  is  likely  to  go  up  to  twenty- 
four  millions.  Mints  elsewhere  on  the  Pacific  Coast, 
and  in  the  mining  regions,  are  utterly  unnecessary. 
There  is  one  at  Denver  in  Colorado,  but  it  has 
nothing  to  do, — the  gold  of  the  Colorado  and  Mon 
tana  mines  goes  right  by  it,  in  dust  or  bars,  to  New 
York  and  Philadelphia.  Efforts  are  making  to  get 
mints  in  Nevada  and  in  Oregon,  but  they  would 
only  prove  a  wraste  of  money.  No  local  clamor  of 
politicians,  seeking  home  popularity  or  contractors' 
15* 


346  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

jobs  for  friends,  should  induce  Congress  to  yield  to 
such  demands.  Two  mints  are  only  needed  for  the 
whole  country,  at  New  York  or  Philadelphia,  and  at 
San  Francisco.  The  metals,  as  soon  as  mined,  drift 
at  once  to  the  commercial  and  financial  centers ; 
there  only  can.  their  true  value  be  known, — there 
only  the  use  to  which  commerce  may  choose  to  put 
them.  Sometimes,  she  demands  ^heir  exportation 
in  bars,  and  again  in  coin.  Besides,  the  business  of 
coining  is  an  intricate  and  delicate  one,  requiring 
large  responsibilities,  expensive  establishments,  and 
men  of  both  science  and  integrity.  It  should  not 
be  needlessly  cheapened  and  scattered.  Govern 
ment  may  well  have  assay  offices  in  all  the  mining 
districts,  acting  as  branches  of  the  mints,  to  receive 
the  metals,  and  give  coin  or  exchange  for  their  full 
value,  minus  the  bare  cost  of  manipulating,  in  order 
to  accommodate  especially  the  poorer  and  smaller 
miners  ;  but  the  multiplication  of  mints,  I  repeat,  is 
an  unnecessary,  wasteful,  and  dangerous  operation. 
The  Mint  here  is  now  in  charge  of  one  of  the 
best  merchants  of  the  city,  Mr.  R.  B.  Swain,  but  it 
has  no  adequate  accommodations.  It  is  crowded 
into  the  back  and  upper  rooms  of  an  old  and  ordi 
nary  block  in  the  principal  business  street.  But 
provision  has  been  made  by  Congress  for  a  distinct 
and  appropriate  building.  The  metals  are  received 
at  the  Mint  in  all  manner  of  half-worked  forms,  in 
dust,  nuggets,  rough  bars,  silver  and  gold  mixed 
together,  and  more  or  less  dross  with  all.  Each 
parcel  is  kept  distinct,  first  assayed,  to  discover  its 
exact  value,  and  then  worked  over,  the  dross  ex- 


THE  WORLD'S  BALANCING-HOUSE.          347 

pelled,  and  the  silver  and  gold  separated.  Fire, 
water  and  chemicals  are  the  means  employed.  The 
processes  are  simple  enough  and  exquisitely  enter 
taining,  as  you  follow  them  with  eye  and  intelligent 
explanation.  The  results  are  returned  to  the  owner 
either  in  solid  bars,  bearing  official  stamp  of  their 
value,  or  in  freshly  made  coin. 

Much  gold  and  silver  are  already  exported  direct 
from  here  to  China  to  settle  the  balances  of  trade 
of  both  New  York  and  London  merchants ;  and 
when  the  Pacific  Railroad  is  done,  and  the  line  of 
steamships  to  China  is  running,  San  Francisco,  as 
the  center  of  the  gold  and  silver  producing  region 
of  the  world,  and  the  half-way  house  of  commerce, 
will  become  the  great  financial  and  balancing  center 
for  all  the  trade  between  Europe  and  America,  and 
Asia. 


<   ;       LETTER     XXX. 

THE    MINING    QUESTIONS    AGAIN:     GENERAL 
REVIEW. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  September  i. 

I  MUST  go  back  to  the  Mines  for  a  renewed  word 
of  caution  to  the  East.  You  are  tempted  there 
with  all  sorts  of  seductive  ventures  in  the  way  of 
mining  in  these  Pacific  States.  There  are  many 
men,  both  there  and  here,  busy  in  working  up  a 
furore  for  investments  in  this  business.  Every 
steamer  carries  speculators  and  adventurers  to  the 
East,  with  mines  to  sell, — good,  bad  and  indiffer 
ent, — but  mostly  uncertain.  These  have  often 
been,  and  are  likely  to  be,  made  the  basis  of  joint 
stock  companies  of  mammoth  capitals,  yet  low- 
priced  shares ;  their  prospects  set  before  the  public 
in  flaming  advertisements,  studded  with  stunning 
statements  as  to  the  assay  of  the  ore  and  the  as 
sured  prospects  of  the  company.  It  is  safe  to  ad 
vise  people  to  put  no  trust  in  such  enterprises.  It 
is  safe  to  assert  that  the  money  made  by  them  will 
be  made  out  of  the  stock-buyers,  and  not  out  of  the 
mines,  and  shared  by  the  officers  of  the  company 
and  their  friends.  Very  likely,  the  latter  are  in  the 
first  instance  swindled  in  the  purchase  of  the  mines, 
and  that  they  are  only  repeating,  in  another  form 


CAUTION   TO   CAPITALISTS.  349 

and  before  a  larger  audience,  the  game  that  has  been 
played  on  them.  Most  of  the  mines  now  being  of 
fered  to  the  eastern  public  are  so  remotely  located, 
distant  from  markets,  from  wood  and  water,  that, 
even  if  valuable  in  themselves,  they  cannot  for  many 
years  to  come  be  worked  to  advantage  and  profit. 
No  investments,  I  repeat,  should  be  made  in 
mines  in  this  region,  except  after  the  most  intelli 
gent  and  complete  study  of  the  whole  subject,  and 
of  the  merits  of  the  special  enterprise  offered,  either 
by  the  capitalist  himself,  or  by  some  one  in  whom 
he  can  place  the  most  implicit  confidence.  Not 
only  the  mine  itself  should  offer  assured  evidence 
of  value,  and  of  favorable  location,  but  the  capitalist 
should  also  be  assured  of  its  management  here  by 
persons  of  both  intelligence  and  integrity.  This 
point  is  as  vital  as  the  other,  and  as  difficult,  more 
difficult  indeed,  to  be  secured.  These  qualities  of 
intelligence  and  integrity  are  rare  here,  and  com 
mand  a  high  price.  They  can  generally  do  better 
than  to  work  for  other  people.  Eastern  capitalists, 
investing  largely, — and  it  is  certainly  best  to  invest 
enough  to  command  their  personal  attention,  or  not 
,at  all, — will  always  find  it  wise  to  send,  out  one  of 
their  own  number,  or  a  person  equally  dependable, 
to  oversee  the  expenditures  and  direct  the  financial 
part  (3f  their  operations,  and  let  him  find  here  that 
scientific  and  practical  knowledge  on  the  subject  of 
mining,  that  he  cannot  of  course  possess.  This  he 
will  obtain  in  mining  engineers  of  repute,  and  in 
old  practical  miners,  the  latter  most  often  men  who 
have  been  foremen  or  overseers  in  mines  or  mills. 


350  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

The  discoverers  and  prospectors  of  mines  are  a  class 
by  themselves,  and  are  rarely  the  right  men  to  work 
a  mine  for  other  people. 

I  find  my  conviction  of  distrust  of  indiscriminate 
investments  in  mining,  and  my  growing  conserva 
tism  on  the  whole  subject,  abundantly  confirmed  by 
the  experience  and  testimony  of  others.  There  is 
but  one  voice  among  the  oldest  and  best  business 
men  of  this  city, — men  who  have  gone  through  all 
the  mining  excitements  of  the  Coast  and  shared  in 
them  all, — and  that  is  in  fullest  sympathy  with  what 
I  have  written.  Mr.  Charles  Allen  of  Boston,  the 
reporter  for  your  Massachusetts  Supreme  Court, 
who  has  followed  our  party  through  the  Nevada 
silver  and  the  California  gold  mining  districts,  ex 
amining  them  and  their  operations  with  even  more 
of  strictness  and  detail,  in  behalf  of  eastern  clients 
and  capitalists,  than  we  did,  I  find  has  written 
home  almost  exact  transcripts  of  my  conclusions, 
without  any  knowledge  of  what  these  were.  We 
find  them  fully  confirmed,  too,  by  the  printed  opin 
ions  ot  Professor  Whitney  of  the  California  State 
Geological  Survey,  on  record  here.  Mr.  William 
Ashburner,  who  has  been  the  mineralogist  of  that 
survey,  and  is  now  the  confidential  mining  engineer 
of  some  of  the  most  important  enterprises  and 'in 
terests  on  this  Coast, — and  who  is  from  Stockbridge, 
(Mass.,)  and  the  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Jonathan  E. 
Field  of  that  town, — acts  confidently  and  cautiously 
on  the  same  principles,  and  all  his  experience  justi 
fies  their  soundness.  There  is  no  higher  or  more 
intelligent  authority  on  these  subjects  than  he. 


DOUBLE    INJURY   OF    DECEPTION.  351 

None  of  those  who  hold  these  views  belittle  the 
mineral  wealth  of  these  States.  Those  who  know 
most  about  it  have,  indeed,  the  largest  ideas  of  its 
extent  and  its  value.  But  even  thus  utterly  unable 
to  measure  these  riches  and  the  amounts  to  be 
drawn  from  them  for  the  use  of  the  world,  they  have 
learned  how  fickle  are  their  individual  deposits,  how 
incomplete  and  uneconomical  are  present  modes  of 
extracting  and  working  them,  how  remote  from 
supplies  are  their  best  fields,  and  how  difficult,  al 
most  impossible,  has  been  and  still  is  the  reduction 
of  the  business  of  mining  to  order  and  legitimacy. 
Those,  too,  who  have  the  true  interests  of  these 
States  at  heart,  who  foresee  their  future,  and  would 
have  their  progress  steady  and  sure,  cannot  but 
look  upon  the  invitation  of  eastern  capital  hither 
under  false  expectations  and  by  deceptive  enter 
prises,  with  equal  sorrow  and  indignation.  The 
fraud  and  the  injury  are  as  great  to  the  West  as  the 
East.  Every  dollar  swindled  out  of  the  Atlantic 
States  by  speculating  adventure  on  the  Pacific  loses 
at  least  two  dollars  on  the  great  balance-sheet  to 
this  section.  It  will  keep  that  much,  at  least,  back 
from  legitimate  enterprise  and  investment  here. 
There  is  field  enough  on  this  Coast  and  the  way 
hither  for  all  the  capital  and  all  the  labor  the  East 
can  spare, — legitimate,  honorable,  profitable  field; 
and  so  every  dollar,  every  hand  turned  from  this  to 
unremunerative,  baseless  enterprise,  is  indeed  a 
double  fraud.  Sound  theories  and  healthy  habits 
as  to  mining  are  fast  becoming  dominant  here ;  few 
enterprises,  controlled  by  old  miners  and  long  resi- 


352  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

dents,  are  not  now  meeting  with  some  degree  of 
success,  or  carried  on  with  a  fair  integrity.  .  Only 
eastern  credulity  and  passion,  fed  of  course  by  reck 
less  cupidity  here,  can  repeat  on  a  large  scale  the 
lamentable  experience  through  which  this  wisdom 
has  been  gained.  I  warn  all  whom  my  words  may 
reach  against  feeding  or  yielding  to  the  passion; 
for  they  peril  in  it  both  their  consciences  and  their 
cash,  and  bring  injury  to  the  best  interests  of  Cali 
fornia  and  her  sister  States. 

The  results  of  the  geological  survey  of  Califor 
nia,  under  Professor  Whitney,  just  now  beginning 
to  come  before  the  public,  will  aid  materially  in  the 
dissemination  of  reliable  knowledge  on  all  subjects 
connected  with  the  State's  wealth  and  the  opportu 
nities  for  its  development.  That  survey  is  one  of 
the  most  comprehensive  and  thorough  scientific  la 
bors  of  the  description  ever  attempted  in  this  coun 
try;  so  far  as  known,  its  results  have  challenged 
the  admiration  of  scientific  men  everywhere ;  both 
its  intelligence  and  its  integrity  are  unimpeachable ; 
and  the  State  of  California  owes  it  to  her  best  in 
terests  and  to  her  reputation  the  world  over  to 
carry  the  work  through  on  the  high  scale  with 
which  it  has  been  commenced,  disregarding  the 
suggestions  of  prejudiced  ignorance,  the  clamor  of 
baffled  speculation,  and  the  appeal  of  a  narrow 
economy.  No  money  can  be  so  well  expended  by 
California  as  in  telling  the  world  exactly  what  she 
is,  in  whole  and  in  detail ;  and  this  is  the  work  that 
Professor  Whitney  has  carried  forward  to  its  near, 
triumphant  completion. 


NEW    MINING    DISTRICT    IN    CALIFORNIA.        353 

Looking  back  over  our  mining  experiences,  and 
taking  the  average  testimony  of  each  district  as 
•equally  reliable,  I  find  myself  impressed  with  the  su 
perior  richness  of  the  Colorado  gold  mines.  Their 
ore  averaged  as  uniformly  one  hundred  dollars  a 
ton,  as  that  of  Nevada,  either  Austin  or  Virginia,  or 
of  California  does  fifty  dollars.  The  extraction  is 
not  as  complete  because  of  the  more  intricate  na 
ture  of  the  precious  deposits ;  but  means  to  over 
come  this,  though  perhaps  at  enlarged  cost,  seemed 
successfully  initiated  while  we  were  there. 

There  has  been  opened  a  new  mining  district  in 
California  the  present  season,  in  the  extreme  west 
ern  part  of  Nevada  County,  among  the  higher  hills 
of  the  Sierras,  and  near  the  line  of  the  Pacific  rail 
road,  whose  ores  resemble  those  of  Colorado,  both 
in  richness  and  in  peculiarity  of  combinations,  and 
which,  already  attracting  great  attention,  seems  des 
tined  to  become  both  popular  and  profitable.  The 
poorer  portions  of  the  ore  of  one  mine  are  sold  on  the 
spot  at  forty  dollars  a  ton ;  and  the  rest  are  taken 
some  distance  to  be  worked.  But  the  first  and  most 
important  step  in  the  successful  treatment  of  all  of  it 
is  believed  to  be  roasting,  which  is  not  a  common  pro 
cess  in  California.  A  single  chunk  of  ore  from  this 
mine  was  so  fat  with  wealth  that  it  yielded  at  the 
rate  of  over  thirty-nine  hundred  dollars  to  the  ton ! 
There  is  even  increased  doubt  and  anxiety  as  to  the 
future  of  the  Comstock  Ledge  in  Nevada,  which  is 
the  great  mineral  deposit  of  the  Continent,  if  not  the 
world.  The  mines  are  turning  out  bullion  more  rich 
ly  than  in  early  summer ;  but  they  are  spending  large 


354  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

sums  for  explorations  for  new  deposits,  with  results 
that  are,  on  the  whole,  disheartening.  Dividends  are 
decreasing  and  stopping ;  assessments  coming ;  and 
the  stocks  are  about  half  the  rates  in  the  spring. 

The  gold  and  copper  mines  down  in  Arizona, 
along  the  Colorado  River,  as  it  runs  between  that 
Territory  and  California,  are  also  coming  more  into 
favor  and  development.  That  river  offers  conven 
ient  and  cheap  access  to  them ;  and  the  chief  ob 
stacles,  as  yet,  are  the  lack  of  steam  communication, 
the  barrenness  of  the  neighboring  country,  and  the 
hostility  of  the  Indians.  Mr.  Charles  L.  Strong, 
the  famous  superintendent  of  the  famous  Gould  & 
Curry  mine  in  Virginia,  until  within  two  years,  has 
just  returned  from  an  exploring  expedition  in  that 
direction,  and  reports  most  valuable  discoveries  of 
mines,  which  he  has  taken  up  in  behalf  of  some 
heavy  New  York  capitalists,  whom  he  represents. 

From  Idaho  we  hear  already  of  deserted  villages 
and  impoverished  gold-diggings  ;  successful  mining 
there  is  fast  falling  back  on  the  quartz  leads ;  and 
as  a  consequence  the  occupation  of  the  "wandering 
Jews,"  the  pioneers  in  gold-hunting,  is  gone.  The 
experience  of  the  East  with  oil  wells  is  a  fit  parallel 
to  the  mining  experience  of  the  Pacific  States.  The 
excitement,  the  speculation,  the  lucky  hits  of  the  few, 
the  losses  and  disappointments  of  the  many,  the  sud 
den  creation  of  a  town  with  all  the  elements  of  civili 
zation,  and  its  almost  as  sudden  desertion  for  new  and ' 
more  favored  localities, — in  all  these  features  and  in 
many  incidental  ones,  the  history  of  one  experience 
is  counterpart  and  repetition  of  that  of  the  other. 


COPPER   AND    QUICKSILVER.  355 

Copper  and  quicksilver  are  to  be  added  to  the 
profitable  mineral  productions  of  California.  The 
most  brilliant  success  has  attended  the  discovery 
and  working  of  both  these  valuable  metals,  each, 
however,  in  a  single  locality.  The  copper  mines 
lie  in  the  foot-hills  of  the  Sierras,  a  day's  ride  west 
from  Stockton,  and  the  town  they  have  built  up  is 
called  appropriately  Copperopolis.  They  are  being 
developed  very  extensively  and  with  much  profit; 
no  less  than  three  thousand  tons  of  the  ore  goes 
East  and  to  England  every  month  ;  and  an  increase 
from  these  and  other  mines  to  twenty  thousand  tons 
a  month  is  predicted  by  another  year.  The  suc 
cessful  smelting  of  the  ore  for  the  metal  is  not  in 
troduced  here  yet,  except  on  a  small  scale.  The  pro 
cesses  abroad  are  so  much  cheaper  and  more  com 
plete  that  it  pays  better  to  ship  the  rough  ore  direct. 

The  great  mines  of  Cinnabar,  from  which  quick 
silver  is  extracted,  are  those  of  New  Almaden,  on 
the  inside  of  the  Coast  hills,  about  sixty  miles  south 
of  San  Francisco;  and  they  have  become  one  of 
the  most  curious  and  interesting  objects  for  visit 
and  inspection  in  all  California.  Their  discovery 
and  successful  working  have  had  a  marked  influence 
upon  the  mining  interests  of  the  country,  since 
quicksilver  is  universally  used,  and  in  large  quanti 
ties,  to  separate  the  gold  and  silver  from  the  parti 
cles  of  dross  with  which  they  are  bound  up  in  the 
*ore,  and  the  production  of  the  article  throughout 
the  world  is  quite  limited.  Spain,  Peru  and  Austria 
only  have  mines  <sf  it  besides  California;  and  the 
New  Almaden  now  controls  the  prices  for  the  world. 


356  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Its  present  production  is  four  thousand  to  five  thou 
sand  flasks  a  month,  worth  forty  dollars  a  flask,  and 
the  net  profits  of  the  operation  are  about  one  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars  a  month.  The  history  of  this 
property,  its  discovery  and  ownership,  has  been  full 
of  romance  ;  there  was  great  dispute  over  it,  a  long 
contest  in  law,  vast  sums  paid  in  litigation,  and 
finally  a  purchase  of  rival  claims.  It  is  now  owned 
by  a  New  York  company,  with  a  capital  of  ten 
millions,  and  is  a  magnificent  property.  The  cin 
nabar  is  a  red,  brick-looking  earth  or  ore,  which  is 
dug  from  its  veins  like  any  other  ore,  fashioned  into 
small  squares  or  bricks,  built  up  into  a  kiln,  and 
then  fire  set  under  and  among  it ;  and  the  precious 
quicksilver  exudes  in  a  liquid  stream  or  vapor,  and 
is  caught  and  bottled  for  market. 

Other  cinnabar  veins  of  promise,  as  other  copper 
mines,  are  in  existence,  and  to  a  greater  or  less  ex 
tent  improved,  but  these  are  the  distinctive  and 
controlling  interests  in  both  metals.  In  crossing 
the  Rocky  Mountains  from  Denver  to  Salt  Lake 
City,  I  remember  seeing  evidences  of  generous  cin 
nabar  deposits  at  various  points  along  the  North 
Platte ;  and  the  United  States  are  probably  destined 
to  be  the  great  producers  of  quicksilver. 

California  is  not  without  its  petroleum,  also: 
there  has  been  fierce  dispute  as  to  its  existence ; 
much  of  furore  in  the  search  for  it ;  and  much  wild 
speculation,  into  which  the  East  has  been  drawn 
most  unprofitably,  upon  the  basis  of  its  discovery 
in  large  quantities.  That  it  exists*,  in  greater  or  less 
degree,  in  some  form  or  another,  in  one  or  two  of 


THE    PETROLEUM   FEVER OIL   VS.  WINE.       357 

the  distant  Coast  counties,  may  no  longer  be  dis 
puted  ;  but  it  yet  remains  to  be  proven  whether  it 
exists  under  successful  commercial  circumstances, 
that  is,  whether  it  will  pay.  I  believe  there  is  no 
well-authenticated  case  of  a  flowing  well  yet ;  I  am 
sure  much  more  money  has  been  put  into  the  wells 
than  has  been  taken  from  them ;  and  I  am  positive 
that  the  only  money  yet  made  from  petroleum  on 
the  Pacific  Coast  has  been  made  by  the  land-own 
ers  and  the  speculators.  The  oil  fever  has  clearly 
a  better  basis  and  a  more  healthy  promise  in  the 
East  than  at  the  West ;  and  yet,  under  the  influence 
of  rhetorical  representations  by  speculators  and 
their  agents,  two  companies  of  eastern  capitalists 
have  put  up  large  sums  of  money,  and  -bought  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  acres  of  supposed  oil  lands 
in  the  southern  counties  of  California.  Their 
search  for  the  oil  has  not  had  brilliant  success  yet ; 
and  one  of  the  companies  has  adopted  the  very 
sensible  plan  of  turning  their  land  to  good  account 
by  planting  it  with  grape  vines  and  going  into  the 
manufacture  of  wine.  This  is  not  the  entertain 
ment  to  which  they  invited  themselves,  but  it  cer 
tainly  promises  better  results.  They  propose  to  set 
out  ten  millions  of  vines  within  two  years  ;  and  the 
other  company  in  the  same  position  will  probably 
follow  suit  with  both  .vines  and  olives.  This  is  an 
odd  turn  for  a  petroleum  speculation  to  take,  but  it 
is  fortunate  for  the  true  interests  of  California,  and 
if  well  followed  up  will  prove  remunerative  to  the 
victims  of  the  oil  fever, — and  Professor  Silliman's 
rhetorical  report. 


LETTER    XXXI. 

THE  FAREWELL  FESTIVITIES:    POLITICS  AND  POL 
ITICIANS. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  September  2. 

THERE  is  something  of  pathos  in  the  very  word 
parting.  Few  can  confront  the  fact,  can  break  any 
experience,  from  which  life  has  been  taken,  or  to 
which  life  has  been  given,  without  a  flutter  in  the 
heart.  But  this  is  my  last  letter  from  the  Pacific 
Coast.  This  morning  ends  the  record  of  the  "Col- 
fax  party  "  on  this  shore :  we  are  closing  that  wealth 
of  experience  which  it  is  difficult  to  believe  has 
been  made  ours  in  only  four  months'  time :  host  and 
hostess  gather  to  whelm  us  with  final  generosity ; 
to  give  coup  de  grace  to  a  summer  of  such  hospi 
tality,  both  of  sense  and  spirit,  as  was  never  ours 
before.  Do  you  wonder  we  are  all  a  trifle  senti 
mental  ;  and  that  I  would  coin  my  daintiest  phrase 
for  the  final  adieux  ? '  Yet  the  themes  left  on  my 
note-book  are  prosaic  and  practical ;  and  poetry  fit 
to  the  occasion  is  felt  better  than  written.  Besides, 
these  emotions,  voiced  to  Atlantic  shore,  would 
reach  unsympathizing  ears.  So  you  shall  not  know 
these  words  that  are  uttered,  these  scenes  that  are 
transpiring,  in  hotel  parlor  and  steamer  saloon,  this 


THE    LAST   WEEK    IN    SAN    FRANCISCO.          359 

morning,  as  guest  and  host  are  parting.  They 
belong  to  those  things  that  should  always  be  taken 
"during  the  effervescence." 

Our  final  visit  in  San  Francisco  has  been  crowded 
with  most  agreeable  attentions,  both  of  a  public  and 
a  private  character.  Not  half  that  were  proffered 
could  be  enjoyed.  Excursions  to  the  country,  and 
on  the  bay ;  visits  to  public  institutions  of  the  city 
and  neighborhood ;  the  seeing  of  the  Mechanics' 
Fair,  a  fine  exposition  of  the  manufacturing  indus 
try  and  art  ambition  of  California;  'addresses  here, 
there,  everywhere ;  private  breakfasts  and  dinners ; 
and  a  grand  final  and  farewell  ball  and  banquet  by 
the  bankers  and  merchants  of  the  city,  at  the  Oc 
cidental  Hotel, — this  has  been  the  entertainment  to 
which  Mr.  Colfax  and  his  companions  have  been 
invited  during  the  last  week.  But  all  are  over 
how, — the  Speaker  has  made  his  farewell  speech ; 
Governor  Bross  has  addressed  the  last  Sunday 
School ;  the  brass  band  is  hushed, — 

"And  silence,  like  a  poultice,  comes, 
To  heal  the  blows  of  sound ; — " 

the  final  photograph  is  taken, — and  rare  photo 
graphs,  indeed,  both  of  faces  and  scenery,  do  skill 
of  the  artist  and  clearness  of  the  air  combine  to 
produce  on  this  Coast :  the  tongue  has  wagged  its 
last  good-bye ;  and  the  hour  of  waving  handker 
chiefs  is  passing ! 

Conspicuous  among  the  more  private  entertain 
ments  of  the  week  was  a  dinner  party  to  Mr.  Colfax 
by  the  leading  banker  of  the  city,  and  to  which 


360  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

were  gathered  from  twenty  to  thirty  of  the  most 
noted  and  notable  bankers  and  business  men  of  the 
Coast,  heads  and  managers  of  the  great  enterprises 
of  the  Pacific.  It  was  a  rare  collection  of  strong 
men,  real  kings  in  this  Israel,  and  no  city  of  the 
Atlantic  could  marshal  a  superior.  The  dinner  it 
self  was  a  triumph,  was  high  art  itself,  in  its  way. 
It  was  said  to  have  never  had  its  equal  before  in 
San  Francisco ;  and  I  certainly  never  sat  through 
its  superior,  for  richness  and  rarity,  both  in  its  ele 
ments  and  their  serving,  anywhere. 

The  farewell  ball  and  banquet  was^i  brilliant  fete 
of  a  more  public  character.  Two  or  three  hundred 
ladies  and  gentlemen  joined  in -the  festival;  the 
hotel  was  surrendered  to  its  accommodation;  the 
tickets  were  no  less  than  twenty-five  dollars  in  gold  ; 
and  in  aggregate  and  in  detail,  in  preparation  and 
achievement,  it  was  as  elegant  and  as  flattering  an 
entertainment  and  social  compliment  as  ever  city 
tendered  or  citizen  received.  There  is  more  catho 
licity  of  feeling  as  to  such  amusements  among 
church  people  here  than  in  the  East;  dancing  is 
not  a  sin,  even,  among  the  San  Francisco  orthodox ; 
and  the  guests  were  greeted  at  this  ball  by  the 
leaders  in  every  good  word  and  work  in  the  town, 
who,  men  and  women,  made  themselves  gay  with 
its  pleasures,  and  contributed  to  its  brilliancy  with 
their  beauty  and  grace.  I  had  a  home  pride  in 
recognizing,  in  the  most  womanly  of  the  women 
and  the  most  beautiful  of  the  belles,  a  daughter  and 
grand-daughter,  respectively,  of  our  good  old,  half- 
century  pastor  of  Springfield  First  church,  the  late 


THE    RESCUE    FROM   DISUNION.  361 

venerable  and  venerated  Dr.  Osgood.  I  note,  also, 
as  excellent  example  for  eastern  evening  routs, 
among  which  I  never  saw  it,  the  serving  of  hot 
beef-tea,  with  just  a  smack  of  claret  in  it,  as  a  con 
stant  refreshment  during  the  evening.  It  is  a  most 
grateful  and  delicate  substitute  for  the  accustomed 
spirit  and  tea  and  coffee,  that  leave  such  wreck  of 
nerves  the  next  day ;  and  it  did  not  on  this  occasion 
interfere  with  the  grand  banquet  of  the  night,  that 
was  the  crowning  feast  of  the  week. 

The  politics  of  these  Pacific  States  are  now  in 
hearty  sympalfcy  with  those  which  are  dominant  in 
the  East.  Their  rescue  from  the  danger  of  co 
operation  with  the  southern  rebellion,  or  the  temp 
tation  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  and  set 
up  a  kingdom  by  themselves,  seems  to  have  been  al 
most  miraculous,  certainly  was  very  narrow.  There 
were  strong  elements  and  many  circumstances  that 
were  leading,  or  likely  to  lead,  these  States  in  one 
direction  or  the  other.  Had  they  been  enjoying 
then  a  vigorous  and  sure  prosperity,  the  temptation 
and  clamor  for  independence  would,  indeed,  have 
been  dangerous.  But  there  was  here,  as  in  the 
East,  a  sudden  and  contagious  uprising  of  the  peo 
ple  for  the  government  and  the  Union,  that  swept 
all  discussion  before  it,  and  saved  these  States  from 
anarchy,  and  the  Republic  a  unit.  So  marked  was 
the  revolution  that  it  seemed  almost  the  work  of 
one  man,  Rev.  T.  Starr  King,  whose  voice  was  first 
and  warmest  and  truest.  But  he  was  rather  the 
leader  than  the  creator  of  the  public  feeling;  it 
would  have  found  other  prophets,  had  he  been  want- 
16 


362  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

ing,  and  groped  and  stumbled  somehow  to  the  same 
conclusions.  Yet  his  clear,  magnetic  voice  and 
kindling  spirit  gave  expression  and  conviction  to 
the  slumbering,  half-aroused  feeling;  and  to  his 
memory  be  great  glory  indeed. 

California,  Nevada  and  Oregon  are  now  appar 
ently  as  fixed  and  decided  in  the  possession  of  the 
republican  or  Union  party,  as  the  average  of  the 
States  of  the  East.  The  type  of  their  public  men 
is  also  much  improved  by  the  change  from  the  old 
democratic  and  pro-slavery  rule.  The  lack  of  per 
sonal  and  political  integrity,  and  of*:onsequent  in 
fluence,  on  the  part  of  their  representatives  in 
Congress,  has  confessedly  been  a  chief  reason  for 
the  want  of  consideration  which  these  States  and 
their  interests  have  suffered  from  at  the  hands  of 
the  government.  They  have  never  seemed  to  have 
the  comprehension  to  see  and  say  what  was  wanted 
by  their  constituents,  or  the  influence  to  secure  it. 
The  new  men  are  not  generally  conspicuous  for  in 
tellectual  ability ;  men  of  that  stamp  here  have  too 
often  prostituted  their  character  for  gain  or  pleasure, 
or  are  too  much  absorbed  in  the  great  business  en 
terprises  of  the  country  to  give  themselves  up  to 
public  affairs ;  but  the  present  representatives  at 
Washington  and  governors  of  the  States  are  almost 
uniformly  gentlemen  of  high  personal  integrity, 
great  good  sense,  and  large  practical  qualities  for 
these  trusts.  Governors  Blaisdell  of  Nevada,  Low 
of  this  State,  and  Gibbs  of  Oregon  are  all  of  this 
stamp.  They  inspire  faith  and  confidence,  and  give 
firm  hope  for  States  led  by  them. 


THE   PACIFIC    SENATORS STARR   KING.  363 

Perhaps  the  most  influential,  intellectual  mind 
among  the  Pacific  congressmen  is  that  of  Senator 
Stewart  of  Nevada.  He  shows  qualities  of  the  first 
order,  comprehending  the  affairs  of  his  section,  and 
stating  them  with*  vigorous  effect.  Mr.  Conness, 
the  California  senator,  is  a  disciple  of  Broderick, 
and  possesses  great  perseverance  and  force,  and  a 
conceded  integrity  in  public  affairs,  but  does  not 
inherit  the  breadth  and  commanding  qualities  of 
his  predecessor  and  patron.  He  is  too  much  the 
victim  of  his  hatreds  and  his  self-conceit  for  largest 
power;  he  is  rather  the  leader  of  a  faction  than  the 
senator  of  a  State.  His  unworthy  democratic  asso 
ciate,  McDougal,  is  speedily  to  be  succeeded  by  a 
Union  man,  the  canvass  for  whose  selection  is  now 
in  hot  progress.  It  is  impossible  yet  to  say  who 
will  be  chosen.  In  intellectual  gifts,  the  most  con 
spicuous  candidate  has  been  Mr.  John  B.  Felton, 
brother  of  the  late  President  Felton  of  Harvard 
College,  and  a  leading  lawyer  here ;  but  his  lack  of 
sympathy  with  the  Union,  when  it  was  in  peril  and 
its  fate  doubtful,  and  his  share  in  private  schemes 
against  the  public  welfare  and  the  public  purse,  have 
already  stamped  his  impudent  pretensions  with  de 
feat.  There  are  half  a  dozen  other  candidates,  from 
whom  a  creditable  choice  can  hardly  fail  to  be  made 
by  the  next  winter's  Legislature. 

But  there  is  a  manifest  lack  of  men  of  quick  per 
ceptions  and  strong  grasp  and  influence  among  the 
politicians  of  these  States.  This  senatorial  vacan 
cy,  seeking  fitting  occupant,  would  be  the  occasion 
for  Starr  King,  were  he  living;  his  transference 


364  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

from  the  pulpit  to  public  life  would  have  been  a 
fitting  thing,  and  greatly  to  the  credit  of  California. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  the  sacred  fame  this  man 
has  left  here ;  there  is  none  more  sacred  in  all  Cali 
fornia  history ;  he  is  the  saint  of  the  Pacific  shore. 
Those  who  knew  him  at  the  East  cannot  under 
stand  it ;  nor  what  he  was  here.  He  had,  in  this 
position,  and  under  the  occasion  of  the  war,  and  the 
doubtful  course  of  California,  a  new  baptism,  a  re 
creation  as  man  and  orator ;  and  his  personal  influ 
ence  and  political  power, — the  revolution  and  devel 
opment  of  public  opinion  that  he  led, — are  among 
the  curious  and  impressive  circumstances  in  per 
sonal  history. 

California  sends  three  new  men  of  worth  to*  the 
House  this  year.  Mr.  McRuer  from  the  San  Fran 
cisco  district,  is  an  intelligent  merchant  of  Maine 
and  Scotch  origin,  and  is  sure  to  command  influ 
ence  in  Washington.  General  Bidwell  from  the 
north,  is  a  farmer  of  broad  acres  and  capacity,  and 
Mr.  Higby  is  a  lawyer  from  the  interior. 

Nevada  also  has  a  new  senator  to  choose  the 
next  year,  in  place  of  General  Nye,  who  will  proba 
bly  not  be  returned  again.  The  politics  of  Oregon 
are  in  danger  of  a  counter  revolution,  through  a 
large  emigration  this  season  from  Missouri,  Iowa 
and  Illinois,  the  majority  of  whom  will  be  of  dem 
ocratic,  southern  sympathizing.  This  emigration 
numbers  from  seven  to  ten  thousand,  men,  women 
and  children,  and  will  prove  a  valuable  contribution 
to  the  State's  population  and  fundamental  sources 
of  wealth,  though  it  imperil  the  tone  of  her  politics. 


LOYALTY   A   PASSION.  365 

Mr.  Nesmith,  the  senator,  whose  time  is  about  ex 
piring,  will  hardly  be  the  choice  again  of  either 
party,  for  he  holds  close  communion  with  neither. 
He  is  accredited  with  advocating  McClellan  before 
election,  and  supporting  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  pol 
icy  afterwards.  Not  a  great  man,  he  has  sterling 
qualities  of  sense  and  honesty,  and  has  proven  a 
useful  legislator.  To  him  is  attributed  that  excel 
lent  saying  that,  on  coming  to  Washington  and  see 
ing  the  august  Capitol  and  the  dignified  Senate,  he 
wondered  how  he  came  to  be  sent  there ;  but  after 
being  there  a  few  weeks,  his  wonder  was  still  great 
er  how  the  rest  of  them  got  there  !  Farther  north, 
Washington  Territory  has  testified  her  sympathy 
with  the  new  thought  and  life  of  the  nation,  by  the 
choice  of  a  sterling  Union  man  and  pronounced 
republican  to  Congress. 

The  loyalty  and  the  patriotism  of  these  Pacific 
States  are  surely  not  less  vigorous  than  those 
nearer  the  center  of  national  life.  With  many  the 
feeling  here  seems  more  a  passion,  a  fashion,  than 
a  principle,  and  it  is  often  intolerant  and  rough 
towards  those  who  are  suspected  of  opposition. 
There  has,  indeed,  been  less  freedom  of  speech  and 
action  in  national  politics  in  Nevada  and  California, 
during  the  last  year,  than  in  New  England.  This 
is  explainable,  however,  by  the  intenser  life  of  the 
country,  the  more  passionate  habit  of  the  people, 
and  the  fact  that  the  supporters  of  General  McClel 
lan  here  were  almost  invariably  genuine  secession 
ists  in  heart  and  often  in  manifestation.  The  lines 
were  drawn  here  more  narrowly  and  distinctly  than 


366  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

in  the  East,  where  many  truly  loyal  and  patriotic 
men  were  found  voting  with  the  democrats.  But 
if  intolerance  and  injustice  are  ever  excusable,  when 
more  so  than  for  a  Union  endangered,  and  barely 
rescued,  as  it  seemed  here,  from  the  unholy  power 
of  its  enemies  ? 

I  must  linger  on  the  shore  for  an  almost  forgotten 
paragraph  about  the  Indians  of  the  Pacific  States. 
They  did  not  vex  our  travel  this  side  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  as  their  brethren  did  on  the  other ;  but 
we  saw  them  constantly  in  our  journeys  through 
the  interior.  In  Utah  and  Nevada,  a  poor,  dirty, 
squalid  race ;  apparently  inoffensive  and  incompe 
tent;  beggars  and  poor  servants.  In  California 
and  Oregon  and  Washington,  subdued,  and  a  shade 
civilized,  industrious  in  small  degree,  farming  a  lit 
tle,  fishing  a  good  deal, — hewers  of  wood  and  draw 
ers  of  water, — but  fading  out  fast.  Along  the  Co 
lumbia,  they  were  squatted  in  numbers  by  the  river 
bank,  laying  in  their  annual  supplies  of  salmon,  but 
living  for  the  most  part  back  in  the  mountains. 
There  is  a  little  war  with  the  Indians  in  northern 
Nevada,  and  the  Apaches  down  in  Arizona,  a  stal 
wart  and  fighting  race,  are  making  serious  trouble, 
so  that  troops  have  been  sent  to  subdue  them ;  but 
for  the  rest  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  the  remnants  of 
the  Indian  tribes  are  apparently  peaceable  and  dis 
posed  to  continue  so.  The  testimony  is  universal 
in  these  States  that  the  whites  have  originated  most 
of  the  troubles  with  the  Indians.  The  great  Ore 
gon  Indian  war  of  some  years  ago  was  clearly  pro 
voked  by  whites,  as  a  means  of  speculating  in  sup- 


THE    INDIANS,  AND    THE   "  SLANG."  367 

plies  for  carrying  on  the  war  against  them.  The 
lust  of  coarse  white  men  for  their  women;  the 
introduction  of  whiskey  among  them ;  abuse  and 
maltreatment  in  various  ways  are  the  origin  of  a 
good  many  Indian  outrages,  and  these  lead  into  al 
most  necessary  wars  of  extermination.  The  Indian 
revenges  indiscriminately;  when  he  turns,  he  falls 
on  innocent  as  likely  as  on  guilty;  and  so  wars 
arise,  and  go  on.  Often,  doubtless,  too,  is  this  the 
case,  East  and  West :  mean  and  .sordid  whites  stir 
the  Indian's  blood,  teach  him  the  ways  of  mischief, 
wherein  ignorance  and  barbarity  have  made  him  an 
apt  scholar,  and  robbery,  murder  and  war  ensue  in 
order.  The  path  of  government  duty  is  difficult  to 
trace  through  such  crossing  links  of  criminality; 
but  the  ends  of  keeping  the  lines  of  travel  open, 
the  telegraph  unbroken,  emigration  safe,  and  civili 
zation  progressing,  are  certain.  These  things  must 
be,  even  if  they  oblige  the  government  to  antici 
pate  the  natural  extermination  of  time.  But  this 
ought  not  to  be  necessary,  and  need  not,  if  our  In 
dian  department  were  both  vigorously  and  wisely 
administered. 

The  slang  phrases  and  idioms,  original  and  in  use 
among  the  people  of  these  States,  are  very  odd,  and 
some  of  them  quite  expressive.  Few  or  none  of 
those  I  noticed  in  Colorado  are  known  here.  Each 
section  has  a  set  of  its  own.  "You  bet"  is  one  of 
the  most  common  here ;  it  is  a  strong  affirmation 
or  approval,  as  the  "That's  so"  of  the  East.  "Get" 
or  "You  get"  is  go,  go  along,  clear  out;  drivers 
shout  this  to  their  horses.  "  Get  up  and  Git,"  and 


368  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

"  Get  up  and  Dust,"  are  enlarged,  emphasized  forms 
of  the  same.  "You  can't  prove  it  by  me"  is  also 
very  common  for  doubt  or  disapproval  or  ignorance ; 
and  "None  of  it  in  mine"  is  declination  of  proffer, 
and  the  like,  and  was  probably  borrowed  from  the 
declination  to  take  "bitters"  or  any  extra  fillip  in 
one's  drink.  "Bilk"  stands  for  a  humbug,  an  im- 
poster,  a  "poor  coot."  "On  it"  is  a  much-used, 
condensed,  epigrammatic  phrase,  with  varying  ap 
plications.  It  signifies,  in  that  line,  after  something 
especial,  determined,  in  earnest,  and  the  like.  As 
applied  to  a  woman,  it  generally  means  that  she  is 
in  a  wicked  way.  "  Weaken  "  and  "  To  weaken  "  are 
very  expressive,  meaning  failing  strength,  courage  or 
purpose.  A  man  "weakens"  is  that  he  is  backing 
down  or  backing  out.  The  mines  furnish  many 
new  phrases  :  "  Pan  out "  for  turning  out  or  amount 
ing  to ;  as,  a  man  will  "pan  out"  good  or  bad,  or  an 
enterprise  "pans  out"  much  or  little.  "Peter  out" 
is  coming  to  nothing,  failing,  giving  out  altogether. 
"Show"  and  "color"  come  from1  the  evidences  of 
gold  found  in  washing  sand,  and  are  applied  to  per 
sons  and  things  and  undertakings.  "  Corral,"  from 
the  Spanish  word  for  cattle-guard  or  high  fence,  is 
applied  to  catching,  cornering,  getting  into  control. 
Thus  I  heard  a  man  in  Nevada  say  the  Montgomery 
street  brokers  had  "  corralled  "  all  the  stock  of  a  cer 
tain  mine,  and  could,  therefore,  put  it  up  or  down  as 
they  pleased  • 

But  I  am  lingering  beyond  my  date  on  these 
themes.  The  last  gun  of  the  steamer  is  fired ;  the 
farewell  banners  of  good-will  and  affection  are  fad- 


HOME:   CALIFORNIA'S  FUTURE.  369 

ing  from  view ;  the  Golden  Gate  grows  wide  at  our 
approach ;  the  Golden  City  sails  out  into  the  broad 
Pacific  sea ;  and  we  turn  our  eyes  and  our  thoughts 
forward  for  Home.  But  California  and  her  sister 
States  enlarge  upon  the  inward,  the  backward  vis 
ion.  It  runs  quickly  and  surely  to  a  world-encirc 
ling  commerce.,  a  world-embracing  civilization,  an 
Empire  that  shall  be  the  glory  and  the  culmination 
of  the  American  Republic.  The  share  and  the 
duty  of  the  present  generation,  East  and  West,  in 
this  progress,  is  the  Pacific  Railroad.  Let  them 
not  linger  over  that! 

16*  24 


LETTER    XXXII. 

THE    VOYAGE     HOME     BY     STEAMSHIP    AND    THE 
ISTHMUS. 


NEW  YORK,  September  23,  1865. 

No  one's  knowledge  of  California  life  is  complete, 
who  does  not  go  or  come  by  the  steamship  and 
Panama  route.  It  offers  as  strange  and  interesting 
and  instructive  experience  as  any  other  feature  of 
our  summer  journeyings  over  the  Continent.  It  is 
the  main,  almost  sole  route  for  business  and  pleas 
ure  travel  between  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  Coasts. 
Two  or  three  thousand  persons  pass  each  way  by  it 
every  month.  Where  one  goes  overland,  hundreds 
take  this  route.  There  is  no  ocean  steamship  route 
in  the  world,  over  which  so  many  people  have  passed 
and  are  passing;  none  on  which  the  service  is  so 
well  performed  as  it  has  been  on  a  part  of  this,  and 
promises  to  be  henceforth  on  the  whole  *  none  that 
introduces  the  traveler  to  such  novelties  of  climate 
and  scenery  and  peoples, — none  which  affords  so  va 
ried  and  unique  experiences  with  nature  and  human 
nature.  It  is  as  odd  and  anomalous  as  nearly  every 
thing  else  is  that  belongs  to  California  and  the  Pa 
cific  Coast.  The  stamp  of  originality  imprints  itself 
on  all  the  features  of  that  country  and  its  civilization. 


YOUR   COMPANIONS   ON   THE   VOYAGE.          3/1 

Going  to  Europe  by  steamship  is  ten  or  twelve 
days  on  a  rough  sea,  out  sight  of  land,  in  the  same 
latitude  and  climate,  in  company  with  two  hundred  to 
three  hundred  people  at  the  outside,  who  are  pretty 
much  like  yourself,  or  at  least  with  whose  idiosyncra 
sies  you  are  more  or  less  familiar.  To  many  this  voy 
age  is  only  a  dreary  confinement  to  rolling  berth  ;  an 
imprisonment,  without  the  security  of  penitentiary. 
Coming  from  California  by  steamer  is  to  this  as  a 
kaleidoscope  to  common  spectacles.  You  have  for 
companions  one  thousand,  more  or  less, — and  oftener 
more  than  less, — of  the  all-est  sorts  of  people.  The 
steamship  is  larger,  more  commodious  and  conven 
ient  than  any  other  elsewhere.  There  are  two  hun 
dred  or  more  first  class  passengers,  perhaps  three 
hundred  second  class,  and  four  hundred  to  five  hun 
dred  steerage.  The  latter  are  quartered  forward, 
deck  and  hold,  and  are  limited  to  that  portion  of  the 
vessel.  The  first  and  second  classes  occupy  the  cen 
ter  and  stern  of  the  ship,  and  have  many  rights  in 
common.  Both  eat  in  the  same  saloon,  but  their 
meals  are  served  at  different  hours.  The  state 
rooms  of  the  first  class  are  on  deck ;  the  berths  of  the 
second  class  are  below :  perhaps  the  chief  distinction, 
however,  is  that  the  first  class  dine  at  four,  and  the 
second  at  one.  They  mingle  very  much  together  on 
deck,  and  morals  and  manners  are  generally  as  good 
in  one  set  as  the  other.  The  food  is  good,  even  lux 
urious,  and  nearly  equal  to  first  class  hotel  fare :  beef, 
mutton,  pork  and  poultry  are  carried  on  board  alive, 
and  the  butcher  has  his  daily  slaughtering  to  do,  to 
keep  this  army  of  hungry  boarders  in  meats. 


3/2  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

The  crowd  is  the  only  source  of  standing  discom 
fort.  We  are  as  thick  as  flies  in  August ;  four  and 
•five  in  a  state-room  ;  we  must  needs  divide  into  eat 
ing  battalions,  and  go  twice  for  our  meals:  would 
we  have  chairs  to  sit  in  shade  around  the  decks,  we 
must  buy  and  bring  them:  there  is  no  privacy; 
gamblers  jostle  preachers ;  commercial  women  di 
vide  state-rooms  with  fine  ladies ;  honest  miners  in 
red  flannel  sit  next  my  New  York  exquisite  in 
French  broadcloth :— and  as  for  the  babies,  they 
fairly  swarm, — the  ship  is  one  grand  nursery ;  and 
like  the  British  drum-beat,  the  discordant  music  of 
their  discomfort  follows  sun,  moon  and  stars  through 
every  one  of  every  twenty-four  hours.  There  were 
at  least  one  hundred  of  them  on  our  ship ;  and  new 
and  kinder  notions  of  old  King  Herod  prevailed 
among  suffering  passengers.  The  new  historian 
Froude  makes  saint  and  anchorite  of  wife-changing, 
woman-killing  Henry  the  Eighth :  why  should  not 
some  ambitious  rival,  gaining  new  light  from  the 
California  voyage,  make  public  benefactor  of  baby- 
slaughtering  Herod? 

We  go  out  the  Golden  Gate  into  the  Pacific  ocean, 
and  turn  down  along  the  shore.  It  is  three  thou 
sand  miles,  or  fourteen  days,  from  San  Francisco  to 
Panama ;  from  latitude  thirty-eight  degrees  to  seven 
degrees,  from  temperate  to  tropic.  There  is  rarely 
any  rough  sea  in  this  part  of  the  trip ;  for  most  of 
the  way,  the  steamer  keeps  in  sight  of  the  land ; 
some  captains  on  the  route  make  straight  lines  and 
go  across  the  mouths  of  gulfs  and  bays  and  other 
indentations  of  water  into  land, — and  so  sometimes 


DOWN    THE    PACIFIC    COAST.  3/3 

meet  severer  sea  and  storm ;  but  our  accomplished 
Captain  Bradbury  of  Golden  City  finds  economy  of 
coal,  equal  progress,  and  greater  pleasure  to  pas 
sengers  in  following  the  Coast  around, — and  so  we 
kept  company  with  rock  and  mountain  and  verdure 
for  at  least  eleven  of  our  fourteen  days.  For  much 
of  the  way,  we  were  within  rifle  shot  of  land ;  we 
could  see  the  different  kinds  of  trees,  houses  and 
men,  and  study  geography  to  perfection  ;  it  was  like 
sailing  down  a  broad  river  or  through  a  pond,  for 
often,  by  days  together,  the  water  was  as  mirror  for 
smoothness ;  and  only  once  or  twice,  and  for  a  few 
hours  then,  were  sensitive  stomachs  upbraided  and 
upheaved  for  Neptune's  sake.  Indeed,  it  is  steani- 
boating,  rather  than  steamshipping,  on  the  Pacific 
side ;  and  the  boats  can  be  and  are  larger, — up  to 
four  thousand  tons  in  capacity  and  four  hundred 
feet  in  length, — than  on  the  Atlantic,  with  wide  and 
convenient  guards  along  the  deck,  that  are  forbidden 
in  rougher  seas. 

The  Coast  hills  along  California  make  rough  and 
barren  work  of  the  shore  view ;  but  as  we  get  down 
to  Mexico,  the  hills  open  and  become  clothed  with 
rich  green.  The  weather,  never  cold,  grows  hot; 
flannels  come  off;  the  fortunate  in  white  linen  bios- ' 
som  out  in  spotless  garb;  the  close  and  crowded 
state-rooms  turn  out  their  sleepers  on  to  the  cabin 
floors,  the  decks,  everywhere  and  anywhere  that  a 
breath  of  air  can  be  wooed ;  babies  lie  around 
loosely  and  au  naturel;  you  have  to  pick  your  way 
at  night  about  the  open  parts  of  the  ship,  as  tender 
visitor  to  battle-field  at  Gettysburg.  The  languor 


374  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

of  the  tropics  comes  over  you  all ;  perspiration 
stands  in  great  drops,  or  flows  in  rivulets  from  the 
body ;  a  creamy,  hazy  feeling  possesses  the  senses  ; 
working  is  abandoned  ;  reading  becomes  an  effort ; 
card-playing  ceases  to  lure;  dreaming,  dozing  and 
scandal-talking  grow  to  be  the  occupations  of  the 
ship's  company, — possibly  scandal-making,  for  the 
courtesans  become  bold  and  flaunt,  and  the  weak 
and  impudent  show  that  they  are  so. 

Half  way  down,  at  the  end  of  first  week,  we  stop 
at  Acapulco,  the  chief  Mexican  port  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  founded  by  Spain,  and  famous  in  the  days 
of  her  prosperous  American  commerce.  It  lies 
beautifully,  under  the  hills,  back  of  an  island,  which 
forms  exquisite  and  safe  bay.  Here  we  taste  of 
tropical  life  on  shore ;  here  we  sample  the  Mexicans 
and  Mexican  Republic.  It  is  a  pitiful  civilization 
that  they  present,  and  not  very  inspiring  of  sympa 
thy  or  hope.  The  Mexican  population  is  several 
thousands,  and  there  are  only  two  or  three  families 
of  whites.  The  Mexicans  are  a  mulattoish  race,  an 
apparent  cross  between  Indians  and  negroes,  with 
here  and  there  a  vein  of  Spanish  blood.  Indolence 
and  incompetency  mark  their  life  and  character. 
.  The  principal  local  industry  appears  to  be  the  sup 
plying  of  the  passengers  on  the  steamships,  that 
stop  here,  going  either  way,  for  Coal  and  provisions, 
with  fruits  and  fancy  shell-work.  The  houses  are 
low,  adobe,  and  with  thick  walls,  and  whitewashed 
on  the  outside ;  the  streets  no  wider  than  a  gener 
ous  city  sidewalk ;  the  plaza  or  church  square  opens 
broad  but  barren, — and  here  is  the  market-place, 


THE    EVENING   AT   ACAPULCO.  3/5 

where,  from  little  stands  or  on  the  pavement,  the 
simple  wares  and  food  and  fruits  and  fancy  shells 
of  the  people,  are  offered  for  sale  by  gross  women, 
dreary  old  hags,  or  precocious  girls ;  and  chaffering 
goes  on  day  and  evening  with  citizen  and  stranger. 
A  few  of  us  landed  and  spent  the  evening  on  shore ; 
and  it  was  a  weird  scene  that  the  market-place  pre 
sented  under  rude  and  scant  torch-light  Occasion 
ally  we  found  a  comely  girl  among  the  stands,  with 
rounded  arm  and  bright  eye,  and  such  usually  got 
the  best  bargains  from  our  party.  A  trick  of  the 
trade  is  to  make  you  a  present  of  some  petty  article, 
even  to  force  it  upon  you,  with  flattering  manner 
and  speech, — and  then  to  expect  gallant  and  munifi 
cent  return  in  coin.  This  is  type  of  tropical  trading 
the  world  over,  and  in  all  ages,  I  believe.  Did  not 
Abraham  or  other  of  the  old  prophets  buy  land  for 
burial  place  for  his  kindred  under  such  embarrass 
ing  circumstances  ?  Close  and  heavy  was  the  even 
ing's  heat;  and  the  people,  not  busy  trading  with 
the  Yankees,  laid  around  loose  in  hammocks,  or  on 
the  floors  of  piazza,  thinly  raimented,  stolid,  indif 
ferent  and  indolent. 

Mr.  Colfax  and  some  of  his  friends  went  to  call 
on  General  Alvarez,  the  Mexican  (Juarez)  com 
mander  of  all  this  region,  and  by  the  help  of  an 
interpreter  had  some  talk  with  him.  The  general 
has  reputation  as  one  of  the  best  men  of  his  party ; 
he  seemed  substantial  and  sensible  in  mind  ;  and 
for  his  body  was  a  big,  burly  negro.  We  met  at 
his  place  a  younger  and  livelier  representative  of 
the  Mexicans,  a  member  of  the  Liberal  Congress, 


3/6  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

who  spoke  with  zeal  and  intelligence  of  his  country 
and  its  cause,  and  was  disposed  to  upbraid  Mr.  Col- 
fax  a  trifle  for  not  more  heartily  espousing  their 
side  against  Maximilian,  in  his  California  speeches. 
Such  men  as  these  two  inspire  some  interest  and 
faith  in  their  country ;  but  the  general  effect  of  all 
we  saw  and  learned  at  Acapulco  was  not  very  en 
couraging.  Without  our  aid,  directly  or  indirectly, 
we  were  assured  by  American  residents,  there  was 
little  hope  for  the  Mexican  resistants  to  Maximil 
ian's  authority.  The  interference  of  the  United 
States  in  some  form  or  another  was  his  fear  and 
their  faith.  Acapulco  itself  alternates  in  posses 
sion  between  the  two  parties.  A  French  man-of- 
war  comes  into  the  harbor ;  General  Alvarez  and 
his  followers  retreat  into  the  back  country  ;  and  the 
Frenchmen  possess  a  barren  town.  They  go  away, 
and  the  Mexican  leaders  come  back.  Either  way, 
there  is  little  difference  in  affairs  ;  there  is  no  com 
merce  save  such  as  the  American  steamships  make, 
and  this  goes  on  uninterruptedly.  Though  Aca 
pulco  is  the  largest  town  in  the  west  of  Mexico,  its 
chief  Pacific  port,  there  is  not  a  single  road  out 
from  it  to  the  interior  ;  there  is  no  ingress  or  egress 
save  on  foot  or  horseback ;  no  other  means  of  com 
munication  between  it  and  the  capital.  The  town 
has  no  wheeled  vehicle  of  higher  pretensions  than 
a  wheelbarrow.  What  can  be  done  for  a  people 
who,  with  two  hundred  years  and  more  of  contact 
with  civilization,  can  do  no  more  for  themselves  ?  It 
was  season  of  religious  festivity  when  we  were  there ; 
and  a  third  distinguished  personage  we  met  at  Al- 


TRADING   WITH   THE    MEXICANS.  377 

varez's  head-quarters  was  a  fat  old  mulatto  priest, 
who  had  come  in  from  the  interior  to  preside  at  the 
church  ceremonies,  and  had  brought  along  with  him 
for  Christian  solace-, and  refection,  for  himself  and 
followers,  a  couple  of  hundred  rare  fighting  cocks ! 

When  we  returned  to  the  steamer,  there  was 
still  a  crowd  ojf  little  boats  along  and  under  her 
sides,  filled  with  Mexicans  of  all  ages,  sexes  and 
conditions  of  raiment;  with  their  stocks  of  fruits, 
cigars,  eggs  and  shells ;  fitfully  lit  up  with  pine 
torches ;  and  engaged  in  noisy  traffic  with  the  pas 
sengers  on  the  decks  far  above.  It  was  not  possible 
for  many  of  the  passengers  to  go  on  shore,  and  the 
Mexicans  were  not  allowed  to  come  on  to  the  ship ; 
so  with  mingled  shoutings  of  English  and  Spanish, 
and  by  the  help  of  baskets  and  long  ropes,  the  ex 
change  of  coin  and  commodities  went  on  for  hours. 
Oranges  and  bananas  and  limes  were  the  principal 
fruits,  and  were  alike  fresh  and  cheap  ;  and  large  sup 
plies  were  taken  in  by  both  passengers  and  the  ship's 
steward.  It  was  interesting  and  exciting  interrup 
tion  to  the  monotony  of  the  voyage  to  make  this 
stop  at  Acapulco ;  and  to  passengers  coming  down 
the  Coast,  it  gives  the  first  close  observation  of  trop 
ical  life  and  vegetation.  Here  were  the  groves  of 
palm,  of  banana,  of  cocoa-nut ;  here,  luxuriant  in  the 
open  air,  the  broad  leaves  and  rich  colors  of  many 
plants  that  are  seen  in  the  temperate  latitudes  only 
in  hot-houses ;  here,  fresh  from  trees,  on  the  trees, 
were  the  delicious  fruits  that  come  to  us  at  home 
only  after  long  voyages,  and  often  stale  and  tasteless. 

On  down  the  Coast  "again,  by  Mexico,  out  of 


378  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

sight,  of  course,  but  not  out  of  thought  of  its 
mammoth  volcano,  Popocatapetl,  the  highest  known 
mountain  of  North  America,  (seventeen  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-three  feet) ;  across  the 
gulf  of  Tehuantepec  ;  by  Guatemala ;  by  its  wonder 
ful  and  beautiful  volcanic  mountains,  peaceful  now, 
but  exquisite  in  outline,  perfect  in  cone-shapes,  and 
rising  to  thirteen  thousand  and  fourteen  thousand 
feet  in  hight ;  by  San  Salvador ;  amused  with  the 
lively  little  flying  fishes  that  single  or  in  shoals 
skipped  from  wave  to  wave,  flashing  in  the  sunlight, 
as  dexterous  boy  skips  bright  stone  over  the  water, 
and  awed  with  tropical  lightning  that  made  the 
heavens  all  aglow  with  wide  and  frequent  flashes ; 
by  Nicaragua,  where  the  opposition  line  of  steamers, 
as  yet  weak,  stop,  and  their  passengers  cross  to 
Atlantic  waters  ;  then  Costa  Rica ;  steering  easterly 
all  this  while  to  keep  the  tapering  Continent ;  last 
New  Granada;  and  on  early  morning  at  close  of 
fortnight,  rounding  into  the  wide,  warm  bay  of 
Panama,  where  the  narrow  neck  of  land,  that  con 
nects  and  divides  two  seas  and  two  Continents, 
confronts  us.  It  is  a  charming  scene,  as  we  go  by 
the  richly-green  islands  of  the  bay,  one  with  thriv- 
ing-looking  town  at  its  base,  another  holding  sa 
credly  exclusive  the  sad  burial-place  for  strangers 
and  travelers,  another  the  depot  for  the  steamships, 
others  undisputed  with  luxuriant  and  grasping  na 
ture,  and  anchor,  amid  all,  in  front  of  the  quaint 
old  city  of  Panama.  The  harbor  itself  is  center  for 
wide  commerce  North  and  South,  gathering  here  to 
cross  the  Isthmus,  and  reach  American  and  Euro- 


DEATH    ON    SHIPBOARD.  379 

pean  centers ;  but  a  bad  bar  forces  the  slow  use  of 
lighters  for  passengers  and  freight. 

We  left  the  steamer  one  less  than  came  upon  it. 
There  was  a  death  among  the  steerage  passengers, 
two  days  before  reaching  Panama;  but  the  body 
was  brought  on,  and  lies  now  in  the  lonely  strangers' 
cemetery  out  in  the  bay.  Poor  fellow!  He  was 
eager  to  go  "home"  to  die.  That  hope  buoyed  him 
up,  as  it  keeps  alive  a  feeble,  struggling  lady  in  the 
cabin:  but  disease  was  too  strong  for  even  this 
tonic, — and  now  he  lies  buried,  afar  from  kindred, 
dependent  upon  strangers  for  the  last  offices,  and 
bearing,  painted  on  the  simple  board  above  his 
grave,  these  more  sympathetic  than  coherent  lines, 
the  composition  of  one  of  the  ship's  guard : — 

Death  chanced  to  roam  o'er 
the  ocean's  breast, 
And  spied  a  hapless  wander- 

-er  wanting  rest, 
Who  from  the  western  land  of 

gold  returning 

To  see  his  childhood's  home 
was  yearning. 
But  unpitying  death,  with 
*gsistless  stroke, 

The  casket  of  his  soul  broke  ope, 
And  set  forth  to  another  home 
From  whence  again  it  ne'er 
will  roam. 

We  spent  the  day  from  early  morning  till  late 
evening  upon  the  Isthmus.  By  grace  and  gold,  a 
few  passengers  were  landed  at  once  at  Panama, 
which  gave  us  several  hours  there  for  breakfast,  for 
sight-seeing,  for  shopping,  before  the  great  crowd 


380  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

of  our  company,  the  baggage  and  the  fast  freight 
could  be  transhipped,  and  the  trains  for  their  con 
veyance  over  to  Aspinwall  be  made  ready.  Panama 
we  found  to  be  only  an  improvement  over  Acapulco ; 
it  mingled  more  modern  quality  with  its  as  ancient 
features ;  the  streets  were  broader ;  the  houses  of 
two  stories ;  and  carts  and-  rickety  omnibuses,  and 
a  fine  carriage  or  two,  as  well  as  retail  stores  by 
Jews  or  Yankees,  and  large  warehouses  under  Eng 
lish  or  American  superintendence,  showed  the  in 
novations  and  elevations  of  commerce.  There  was 
a  flavor  of  Spanish  about  everything,  however ;  the 
food,  the  churches,  the  stores,  the  town  generally ; 
decayed,  effete,  luxuriant,  tropical  Spanish.  The 
natives  were  a  good  deal  mixed,  wearing  all  the 
mulatto  shades ;  the  women  flaunting  in  narrow, 
sleazy  white  gowns,  rich  with  wide  negro  ruffles  and 
furbelows;  and  the  children  rollicking  in  single, 
short,  wide  chemises,  or  unblushing  and  bold  with 
utter  freedom  of  covering.  The  churches,  ancient, 
cheap  and  moss-grown,  won  no  veneration  except 
for  their  antiquity ;  they  told  of  no  interest  in  re 
ligion  ;  of  nothing  but  a  tawdry,  vulgar  fanaticism ; 
a  lazy,  cock-fighting  priesthood,  and  an  indifferent 
parish.  We  found  the  bats  flying  about  in  the 
arches  above  and  behind  the  altar,  and  priests  and 
boys  firing  guns  at  them  among  the  poor  tinselry 
of  the  worship,  with  results  more  damaging  to '"bell, 
book  and  candle"  than  birds.  The  things  to  buy 
here  at  Panama  are  fine  linen  lawns  for  ladies' 
dresses ;  they  are  delicate  and  pretty,  and,  Panama 
being  a  free  port,  cheap ;  besides  which  they  are 


THE   RAILROAD    OVER   THE    ISTHMUS.  381 

rarely  to  be  had  in  New  York,  or  other  northern 
cities.  Our  passengers  also  found  some  bargains 
in  other  linen  goods  and  under  clothing ;  and  their 
wardrobes  were  sensibly  improved,  without  corres 
ponding  benefit  to  Uncle  Samuel's  customs  revenue. 

At  mid-day,  the  long  and  crowded  passenger  train 
started  Across  the  Isthmus, — treasure  and  baggage 
waited  for  a  second, — an^l  we  had  that  ever-memora 
ble  ride,  in  the  experience  of  all  who  have  ever 
made  this  trip,  between  the  Continents,  from  ocean 
to  ocean,  in  the  very  fullness  of  the  tropics,  over 
rails  fairly  built  upon  human  bodies,  so  fatal  was 
the  miasma  of  the  country  to  nearly  all  classes  of 
imported  laborers.  The  road  is  fifty  miles  long, 
and  the  run  is  made  in  two  to  three  hours.  Mo 
nopolizing  the  commerce  of  all  the  Pacific  Coast  of 
both  North  and  South  America,  the  gateway  for  all 
travel  from  Continent  to  Continent,  it  is  a  rich  pos 
session  to  its  owners.  The  fare  for  this  two  hours' 
ride  is  no  less  than  twenty-five  dollars,  and  freights 
are  correspondingly  high.  The  sleepers  and  ties 
of  the  track  are  of  lignum-vitae  wood,  the  telegraph 
posts  of  cement,  as  thus  only  are  both  protected 
from  rot  and  insect.  The  road  is  well  appointed  in 
other  respects,  and  the  service  unexceptionable. 

But  the  ride  was  rare  revelation.  All  was  sub 
stantially  new  and  strange  to  our  unused  northern 
eyes ;  and  we  stared  and  wondered  and  absorbed 
through  all  this  tropical  passage.  The  sun  was  not 
fierce  ;  one  will  suffer  more  from  heat  in  a  ride  from 
Springfield  to  New  York  of  a  dry  and  dusty  August 
day ;  but  the  warmth  was  deep  and  high, — it  lay  in 


ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

thick,  heavy,  sensuous  folds  in  the  air, — it  did  not 
fret,  but  it  permeated  and  subdued  and  enriched. 
With  Nature,  it  was  season  of  rest, — colors  were 
dulled  from  the  spring  and  early  summer  hues, — 
but  what  quantity !  what  ripeness  and  fullness,  what 
luxuriant,  wanton  rioting!  There  was  no  limit  to 
variety  or  aboundingness  of  tree  and  shrub,  and 
plant  and  flower  and  grass.  Waste  and  robbery, 
there  could  not  be  in  such  abundance ;  the  vacancy 
of  to-day's  ax  or  fire  is  filled  to-morrow;  only  daily 
use  of  hatchet  and  scythe  keeps  open  path.  Palms 
everywhere,  singly  and  in  groves,  with  great  rough 
fruit,  rich  in  oil ;  ferns  as  trees  and  in  forests ;  clus 
ters  of  bananas  as  big  as  an  honest  two-bushel 
charcoal  basket,  yet  hidden  by  the  generous  leaves 
of  their  tree;  bread-fruit  and  cocoa-nuts  ripening 
and  rotting  out  of  reach  of  man  or  beast ;  tall  oaks 
and  short  oaks ;  little  trees  and  big  trees  of  every 
family,  interlaced  so  closely  that  you  could  not  tell 
where  one  begun  and  the  other  left  off;  vines,  ten 
der  and  strong,  marrying  everything  to  everybody, 
running  up,  and  running  down,  and  running  around, 
dropping  down  lines  straight  and  stiff  like  ropes, 
all  through  the  woods,  making  swings  everywhere, 
but  permitting  no  place  for  their  play ;  great,  coarse, 
flaming  flower,  and  delicate,  tender  microscopic  blos 
som  holding  up  its  cup  by  roadside,  between  rails, 
on  every  hand ;  occasionally  bright  plumage  of  gay 
bird  fluttered  across  the  vision  among  the  thick 
foliage,  and  hid  behind  leaves  so  wide  and  long 
that  we  knew  why  Adam  and  Eve  needed  no  tailor 
or  mantua-maker, — one  would  suffice  for  all  ordinary 


LIFE    IN    THE    TROPICS.  383 

length  of  nakedness: — thus  and  more  like  it  and 
continuously  was  our  ride  across  the  Isthmus. 

At  frequent  intervals  along  the  road  are  well- 
built  stations  with  handsome  yards  and  gardens 
and  American  occupants.  Adjoining,  and  at  other 
points,  we  passed  crowded  negro  hamlets  and  villa 
ges  ;  their  houses  frequently  thatched  both  on  top 
and  side  with  the  generous  leaves  of  the  adjoining 
forests,  and  their  food  the  easy-growing  fruits  and 
vegetables  of  the  tropics.  What  work  they  will  do 
the  railroad  probably  furnishes.  The  mark  of  the 
white  man  is  among  them ;  if  dead,  he  yet  liveth 
in  the  blood  of  the  native ;  but  the  habit  of  the 
negro  is  dominant.  The  climate  and  their  rude 
wants  invite  a  lazy,  sensual  life,  and  such  is  theirs. 
There  is  small  expenditure  for  clothes ;  boys  and 
girls,  even  of  full-growth,  stroll  freely  about  before 
the  passing  trains,  and  among  their  fellows,  with 
not  a  rag  of  clothing  to  their  bodies  ;  and  the  men, 
when  they  do  work,  strip  as  fully  to  the  task. 

We  pass  by  the  thick  and  sinuous  Chagres  River, 
up  and  down  which  in  flat-boats  the  early  passen 
gers  by  this  route  were  pushed  by  the  negro  ;  along 
whoss  banks  in  this  slow  and  painful  passage  did 
many  lie  down  to  die ;  and  out  of  whose  fetid  breath 
came  many  a  long-lurking  and  finally  fatal  fever. 
The  passage  is  now  made  so  quickly  in  the  cars, 
that  there  is  little  danger  at  any  season  of  taking 
the  fever  of  the  country.  Exposure  to  the  rain,  or 
imprudence  in  eating,  added  to  a  system  receptive 
of  disease,  are  quite  likely  to  bring  it  on ;  but  per 
sons  in  ordinary  health  and  taking  reasonable  care 


384  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

of  themselves  need  have  no  apprehensions.  As  a 
precaution,  many  travelers  by  this  route  take  small 
doses  of  quinine  for  a  day  or  two  before  reaching 
the  Isthmus  and  a  day  or  two  after  passing  it.  In 
this  way  the  system  is  pretty  surely  toned  up  against 
the  feverish  tendencies  of  the  passage. 

We  came  into  Aspinwall,  in  the  first  rain  storm 
that  we  had  felt  since  rain  and  hail  pelted  us  so 
mercilessly  on  the  Plains  near  Fort  Kearney,  most 
four  months  ago,  and  found  that  a  dreary  new  town  of 
one  street,  lined  with  hotels  and  shops  and  Jamaica 
negroes  and  negresses.  These  people  are  proof 
against  this  climate ;  they  luxuriate  and  thrive  from 
the  start  here,  and  it  was  due  to  their  importation 
that  the  railroad  was  finally  completed,  as  it  was, 
after  all  other  importations,  white  and  black  alike,  had 
fallen  in  their  tracks  along  its  line  of  rotting  nature, 
stirred  to  revengeful  miasma  by  shovel  and  pick. 

Aspinwall  has  no  past  like  Panama,  no  present 
and  no  future  but  what  the  railroad  and  steamships 
make  for  it.  There  was  a  political  revolution  and 
civil  war  in  progress  on  the  Isthmus  as  we  came 
through ;  but  what  it  was  all  about,  nobody  could 
intelligently  tell  us;  and  we  were  not  half  so  ex 
cited  by  the  fact  as  we  should  have  been  over  the 
ebullition  of  a  neighboring  volcano, — the  latter  be 
ing  the  more  strange  and  interesting  event  here  in 
Central  America  than  the  former.  The  town  had 
little  to  interest  us ;  plenty  of  tropical  fruits  and 
imported  liquors ;  plenty  of  cheap  stores,  but  no 
"  bargains,"  and  not  a  wanting  watch  crystal  on  the 
Isthmus !  So  we  were  glad  when  the  baggage  was 


ON    THE   ATLANTIC    SIDE.  38$ 

all  on  board  our  new  steamer,  and  the  gun  sum 
moned  us  to  follow  it  to  our  places. 

The  steamship  service  on  the  Atlantic  side,  be 
tween  Aspinwall  and  New  York,  has  been  very 
poor  for  years ;  a  disreputable  monopoly,  and  greatly 
aggravating  the  perils  and  discomforts  of  the  Cali 
fornia  voyage.  But  lately  the  management  has 
been  changed,  and  the  service  much  improved  ;  and 
we  were  in  the  luck  to  connect  with  a  new  and  ele 
gant  steamship,  on  her  first  voyage,  and  under  com 
mand  of  that  Nestor  of  Isthmus-going  sailors,  Cap 
tain  Tinklepaugh.  The  discomfort  of  a  crowd 
continued  and  increased,  for  the  vessel 'was  of  less 
size  than  that  of  the  Pacific  side ;  and  we  missed 
the  shambles  and  the  butcher's  shop  before  getting 
through,  for  the  meats  for  the  round  trip  on  this 
side,  covering  twenty  days'  time,  are  taken  out  of 
New  York  on  the  ice.  But  in  all  other  respects 
the  accommodations  and  service  were  beyond  criti 
cism  ;  and  old  travelers  on  the  route  reported  the 
improvement  from  the  sad  past  beyond  description. 

Good  fortune  attended  us,  too,  in  the  weather ;  the 
September  equinoctial  was  past  due,  but  we  escaped 
even  the  breath  of  it.  The  Carribean  Sea  forgot 
its  accustomed  crispness  and  spared  our  stomachs 
and  appetites.  Threading  our  way  through  the 
West  India  Islands  ;  stopping  at  none,  and  catching 
glimpse  of  but  few ;  passing  near  but  outside  Cuba, 
and  waving  our  hands  to  its  eastern  shores,  we  swept 
up  on  calm  waters,  under  summer  skies,  into  the 
broad  Atlantic ;  caught  the  Gulf  Stream  and  crossed 
it;  cherished  our  fears  of  a  rough  time  "off  Hat- 
17  25 


386  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

teras,"  and  woke  to  pass  the  dreaded  spot  on^the 
smoothest  sea  of  all ;  and,  our  steamer  being  fast 
and  on  her  trial  trip,  and  winds  and  seas  favoring 
from  first  to  last,  we  disposed  of  our  two  thousand 
miles,  and  swept  into  never  more  beautiful  New 
York  harbor  on  soft  September  morning,  and  up  to 
the  dock,  in  just  six  days  and  a  half  from  Aspinwall, 
this  being  the  shortest  trip  ever  made  by  any  vessel. 

Though  one  day  longer  on  the  Pacific  side  than 
usual,  the  whole  journey  from  San  Francisco  to 
New  York  was  thus  accomplished  in  twenty-one 
days.  The  whole  distance  is  five  thousand  miles ; 
with  fine  weather  and  crowding  the  steamers  up  to 
their  fullest  power,  it  can  be  passed  over  in  eighteen 
or  nineteen  days  ;  but  the  trip  is  ordinarily  extended 
to  twenty-two  to  twenty-four  days.  The  tropical 
weather  kept  with  us  until  within  two  days  of  New 
York,  and  indeed  is  the  usual  experience  of  two- 
thirds  to  three-fourths  the  voyage,  on  both  Coasts, 
whatever  the  season.  On  this  side  no  land  is  seen 
from  leaving  the  Isthmus  till  Cuba,  and  none  again  till 
the  Jersey  shore  is  sighted  as  New  York  is  neared. 

The  whole  line  of  this  service,  on  both  sides  the 
Continent,  has  now  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company,  heretofore  con 
trolling  only  the  steamers  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 
This  event  is  hailed  with  delight  by  all  California 
travelers,  old  and  new.  The  Pacific  Company  is 
the  most  notable  triumph  of  our  American  steam 
marine,  and  is  as  popular  as  it  has  been  successful. 
No  passenger  steamships  in  the  world  are  larger  or 
more  elegant  than  theirs ;  no  service  more  satisfac- 


THE    PACIFIC    MAIL    STEAMSHIP    COMPANY.     387 

tory  to  the  public.  They  have  within  a  year  put 
three  new  and  mammoth  vessels  on  the  Pacific 
portion  of  the  line,  and  new  and  larger  and  better 
steamers  than  have  ever  been  employed  on  this  side 
will  be  at  once  placed  in  the  service  to  connect  with 
them.  A  uniform  excellence  in  accommodations 
will  be  maintained  on  both  sets  of  steamers ;  and  for 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  California  emigration 
and  commerce,  their  facilities  will  be  somewhat 
commensurate  to  their  extent  and  importance,  and 
the  voyage  will  invite  rather  than  deter  the  traveler. 
For  the  past  few  months,  the  tide  of  travel  has 
been  greater  from  than  to  California;  the  larger 
prosperity  of  the  East  has  invited  home  the  unsuc 
cessful  there;  but  this  is  not  likely  to  continue. 
The  general  flow  must  be  the  other  way.  And  with 
these  more  agreeable  facilities,  and  a  widening  curi 
osity  and  interest  in  the  region  of  the  Pacific  Coast, 
there  will  soon  grow  up  a  large  pleasure  travel  from 
the  Atlantic  States  to  those  of  the  Pacific.  The 
public  and  the  Pacific  Steamship  Company  are  both 
fortunate  in  the  new  arrangement,  and  the  pros 
perity  of  the  latter  is  likely  to  be  still  more  conspic 
uous.  ^The  owners  and  chief  managers  are  iii  New 
York ;  though  all  its  heavy  interests  and  property 
have  been  till  now  on  the  Pacific  Coast ;  and  now  it 
has  added  still  further  to  its  undertakings  the  pro 
posed  line  of  steamships  between  San  Francisco 
and  China.  Larger  and  stauricher  ships,  if  possible, 
will  be  built  for  this  service,  than  are  run  on  the 
Coast;  the  line  is  to  commence  with  1867;  and  the 
event  will  mark  a  new  era  in  the  commercial  history 


388  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

of  the  Pacific  and  the  Republic.  So  fortunate  has 
this  steamship  company  been,  though  it  lost  one  of 
its  best  vessels  (the  Golden  Gate)  three  years  ago 
by  fire,  that  its  three  new  ships  on  the  Pacific  Coast, 
costing  a  million  of  dollars  each,  were  all  built  out 
of  the  profits  of  insuring  its  own  property.  Its 
steamers  will  henceforth  run  three  times  a  month 
between  California  and  New  York,  and  the  fares  for 
passengers  are  established  at  three  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  for  first-class,  two  hundred  and  fifty  dol 
lars  for  second,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
dollars  for  steerage.  These  rates  seem  high ;  but 
they  include  board  and  the  passage  across  the  Isth 
mus,  and  are  really  but  a  little  higher  in  proportion 
than  the  steamship  rates  to  Europe,  while  the  ex 
penses  in  the  latter  service  are  much  less.  All  the 
coal,  for  instance,  used  by  the  Pacific  steamers,  has 
to  be  carried  way  around  Cape  Horn  from  the  East. 
No  adequate  source  of  supply  has  yet  been  devel 
oped  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

The  point  where  relief  and  improvement  are  most 
needed,  it  seems  to  me,  on  this  great  thoroughfare 
of  continental  travel,  is  in  the  over-crowding  of  the 
steamers.  I  know  they  must  carry  large  numbers 
in  order  to  support  such  fine  vessels  and  such  an 
expensive  service ;  but  they  surely  do  not  need  to 
carry  more  than  can  be  comfortably  accommodated 
with  state-rooms  and  berths.  There  should  be  a 
limit  set  to  the  number  going  on  each  steamer, 
which  for  no  reason  should  be  exceeded.  If  three 
steamers  a  month  will  not  accommodate  the  pas 
sengers  applying,  then  run  four  or  five, — one  a  day, 


THE  UNHEALTHY  CROWD  ON  THE  STEAMERS.   389 

if  necessary.  First-class  passengers  ought  not  to 
exceed  three  to  a  state-room  ;  that  is  a  crowd  ;  more 
is  indecent.  If  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Com 
pany  would  preserve  their  reputation  and  continue 
their  substantial  monopoly  of  this  great  traffic,  they 
will  have  to  make  reform  here, — to  put  no  more 
passengers  on  their  boats  than  they  have  comforta 
ble  accommodations  for ;  to  have  boats  of  uniform 
capacity  on  each  side  the  Isthmus,  and  to  insure  to 
all  who  take  tickets  through  just  what  they  pay  for. 
There  is  moral  unhealth  in  this  heterogeneous  mix 
ture  of  humanity  that  flows  back  and  forth  in  such 
close  communion  from  California.  The  strong  and 
the  true  are  only  made  wiser  for  the  experience  ;  but 
the  vain  and  the  weak,  the  susceptible  and  unsettled 
are  only  and  often  contaminated.  Everything  that 
the  Steamship  Company  and  its  officers  can  do  to 
ameliorate  these  inevitable  incidents  of  such  democ 
racy  of  company  in  such  pent-up  quarters ;  to  re 
strain  and  punish  the  wicked ;  to  protect  the  weak ; 
to  make  the  long  and  tedious  voyage  on  shipboard 
comfortable  and  tasteful  to  all,  seems  to  have  been 
and  to  be  done,  except  this  of  preventing  an  inde 
cent  over-crowding  of  state-rooms  and  saloons. 

— But  the  summer's  journey  is  ended ;  and  my 
garrulity  over  its  experiences  and  observations  must 
cease.  It  has  been  a  rare  experience ;  a  rare  oppor 
tunity,  happily  achieved  by  and  for  us  all.  We  have 
gone  together  from  ocean  to  ocean,  across  a  Conti 
nent,  up  and  down  a  Continent ;  from  longitude  one 
degree  to  longitude  thirty-four  degrees ;  from  lati- 


390  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

tude  fifty  degrees  to  latitude  seven  degrees ;  travel 
ing  in  all  some  twelve  thousand  miles,  half  by  sea, 
nearly  a  third  by  stage,  and  the  balance  by  railroad 
and  river;  crossing  the  great  mountain  ranges  of 
the  Continent ;  exploring  the  forests,  the  mines,  the 
commerce  of  a  new  world ;  seen  and  learned  the 
field  of  a  new  empire ;  enjoyed  the  most  generous  of 
hospitality  in  every  possible  and  imaginable  form ; 
and  are  back  in  our  homes  in  a  trifle  more  than  four 
months  from  the  day  of  leaving  them.  All  without 
the  accident  of  a  finger's  scratch  ;  all  without  break 
ing  for  a  moment  the  harmony  of  our  personal  circle. 
We  part  here ;  we  layoff  the  robes,  of  honored  guests, 
that  were  so  unexpectedly  laid  upon  us,  and  so  richly 
endowed  through  all  our  long  journey-;  we  return 
to  our  accustomed  lives;  but  we  come  back  with 
fuller  measure  of  the  American  Republic  and  larger 
faith  in  its  destiny.  For  myself,  this  summer  bears 
greatest  increase  for  my  knowledge  and  my  life ;  it 
will  be  perpetual  pleasure  to  have  had  it ;  it  will  be 
great  glory  to  have  contributed  in  any  degree  by 
these  letters  to  a  knowledge  by  the  American  People 
of  the  real  breadth  and  capacity,  the  necessities  and 
the  possibilities  of  the  American  Nation. 


SUPPLEMENTARY    PAPERS. 


i, 
THE     MORMONS. 

THEIR    PRESENT   ATTITUDE   TOWARDS    THE    GOV 
ERNMENT. 

SINCE  our  visit  to  Utah  in  June,  the  leaders  among  the  Mormons 
have  repudiated  their  professions  of  loyalty  to  the  government,  de 
nied  any  disposition  to  yield  the  issue  of  Polygamy,  and  begun  to 
preach  anew,  and  more  vigorously  than  ever,  disrespect  and  defiance 
to  the  authority  of  the  national  government.  They  seem  to  be  dis 
appointed  and  irate  that  their  personal  attentions  and  assurances  to 
Mr.  Colfax  and  his  friends  did  not  win  from  them  more  tolerance 
of  their  peculiar  institution,  and  something  like  espousal  of  their 
desire  for  admission  as  a  State  of  the  Union.  New  means  are 
taken  to  organize  and  drill  the  militia  of  the  Territory,  and  to  pro 
vide  them  with  arms,  under  the  auspices  and  authority  of  the  Mor 
mon  church ;  and  an  open  conflict  with  the  representatives  of  the 
government  is  apparently  braved,  even  threatened.  I  make  these 
illustrative  quotations  from  speeches  and  sermons  by  prominent 
church  leaders  during  August  and  September  : — 

From  Heber  Kimball,  first  Vice- President  of  the  Church. 

The  next  army  that  comes  here,  I  want  you  women  to  meet, — all 
armed  with  brooms  and  pop-squirts  and  hot  water,  to  squirt  hot  water 
all  over  'em.  We  had  a  good  time  with  the  last  army  that  came 
here,  and  I  guess  we'll  have  it  with  the  next  one !  Greet  them, 
sisters,  with  a  shower  of  suds ;  with  even  the  half  of  a  scissors 
about  eighteen  inches  long.  And  you,  brethren,  grease  your  old 
firelocks.  And  you,  sisters,  grease  your  old  firelocks,  too.  Arm 


392  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

even  with  cornstalks,  everybody.  In  the  "  States "  they  do  it  be 
tween  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five.  Out  hyere,  I  suppose  we 
might  do  so  between  the  ages  of  ten  and  one  hundred  and  eighty. 
Broomsticks  and  mop-handles,  brethren,  and  pails  of  hot  water,  my 
dear  sisters,  if  you  can't  do  any  more.  If  a  dozen  of  our  women 
were  in  the  South,  the  time  of  that  war,  with  pails  of  hot  water, 
they  could  have  licked  the  northern  army. 

We  believe  what  Christ  taught, — the  commandments  he  gave. 
He  said :  "  Thou  shalt  not  interfere  with  thy  neighbor's  wife,  nor 
his  daughter,  his  house,  nor  his  man-servant,  nor  his  maid-servant," 
Christ  said  this ;  but  our  enemies  don't  believe  it.  That  was  the 
trouble  between  the  North  and  the  South.  The  abolitionists  of  the 
North  stole  the  niggers  and  caused  it  all.  The  nigger  was  well  off 
and  happy.  How  do  you  know  this,  Brother  Heber  ?  Why,  God 
bless  your  soul,  I  used  to  live  in  the  South,  and  I  know !  Now 
they  have  set  the  nigger  free ;  and  a  beautiful  thing  they  have  done 
for  him,  haven't  they  ?  I  am  what  you  might  call  a  soa  of  the  vet 
erans.  My  father  bled  in  the  revolution  for  our  liberties.  I,  his 
son,  have  been  five  times  robbed  and  driven  out  by  Gentile  perse 
cutors, — I  and  my  brothers  Charles  and  Samuel.  They  threaten  to 
come  here  and  destroy  us.  Let  them  come.  I  am  the  boy  that 
will  resist  them. 

From  George  A.  Smith,  another  Vice- President. 
He  ^aid  the  Lincoln  administration  did  not  want  peace  with  the 
South,  but  wanted  to  destroy  and  devastate  all  the  good  southern 
people,  and,  that  in  order  to  do  so,  the  party  in  power  had  laid  aside 
the  Constitution  entirely,  and  were  the  main  ones  who  rebelled,  and 
the  South  was  right.  He  said  ^he  northern  army  burned  and  de 
stroyed  everything  in  the  South,  and  abused,  by  force,  all  their  wo 
men,  and  said  they  would  be  here  some  day  to  treat  the  fair  women 
of  Utah  in  like  manner,  and  that  all,  both  old  and  young,  should 
have  plenty  of  arms,  and  when  they  approached,  God  would  fight 
the  battles  and  the  Saints  would  be  victorious  !  He  said  our  gov 
ernment  was  not  at  peace  ;  and  he  damned  it  and  hoped  to  see  the 
day  when  it  would  sink  to  hell ;  that  nothing  in  the  shape  of  a  free 
government  could  ever  stand  on  North  American  soil  that  was  op 
posed  to  Mormonism  and  polygamy  !  . 

From  Brigham  Yotmg,  himself. 

He  said  if  they  undertook  to  try  him  in  a  Gentile  court,  he  would 
see  the  government  in  hell  first,  and  was  ready  to  fight  the  govern 
ment  the  rub.  That  he  had  his  soldiers  and  rifles  and  pistols  and 
ammunition  and  plenty  of  it,  and  cannon  too,  and  would  use  them. 
He  was  on  it !  The  governor  of  this  Territory  was  useless  and 
could  do  nothing.  He  (Brigham)  was  the  real  governor  of  this  peo 
ple,  and  by  powers  of  the  Most  High  he  would  be  governor  of  this 
Territory  forever  and  ever,  and  if  the  Gentiles  did  not  like  this,  they 
could  leave  and  go  to  hell !  He  said  that  nine-tenths  of  the  people 
of  the  Territory  were  southern  sympathizers ;  that  the  North  was 
wrong,  and  this  people  sympathized  with  the  South. 


SUPPLEMENTARY   PAPERS  I    THE    MORMONS.    393 

Much  of  this  demonstration  is  probably  mere  bravado ;  means  to 
arouse  the  ignorant  people,  excite  them  against  the  government, 
make  them  still  more  the  fanatical  followers  of  the  church  leaders, 
and  also  to  intimidate  the  public  authorities,  and  induce  them  to 
continue  the  same  let-alone  and  indulgent  policy  that  has  been  the 
rule  at  Washington  for  so  long.  The  government  always  seems  to 
have  demonstrated  just  enough  against  the  Mormons  to  irritate 
them  and  keep  them  compact  and  prepared  to  resist  it,  but  never 
enough  to  make  them  really  afraid,  or  to  force  them  into  any  sub 
missive  steps.  The  bristling  attitude  of  the  saints  has  ever  had 
the  apparent  effect  to  qualify  the  government  purpose,  and  make 
it  stop  short  in  its  proceeding  to  enforce  the  lawrs  and  national  au 
thority.  It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  they  repeat  their  frantic 
and  fanatic  appeals  to  their  people,  and  their  defiance  to  the  govern 
ment,  and  grow  more  and  more  bold  in  them.  They  find  that  it 
works  better  than  professions  of  loyalty  and  half-way  offers  of  sub 
mission,  one  bad  effect  of  which,  for  their  own  cause,  is  of  course 
to  demoralize  their  followers,  and  weaken  their  own  authority  over 
them. 

There  is  no  evidence  yet  of  any  change  in  the  policy  of  the  execu 
tive  authorities  at  Washington.  While  the  new  federal  Governor 
of  the  Territory,  Mr.  Durkee  from  Wisconsin,  the  federal  judges, 
and  the  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  are  both  anti-Mormons  and 
anti-polygamists,  all  or  nearly  all  the  other  federal  officers  in  the 
Territory  are  both  leading  Mormons  and  practical  polygamists, — 
the  postmasters,  collectors  of  internal  revenue,  etc.  The  postmas 
ter  of  Salt  Lake  City  is  one  of  Brigham  Young's  creatures,  and 
editor  of  the  Mormon  daily  paper  there.  The  returns  of  internal 
revenue  in  the  Territory  are  found  to  be,  proportionately  to  similar 
populations  and  wealth,  quite  small ;  and  there  are  reasons  to  be 
lieve  that  the  taxes  are  not  faithfully  assessed  and  collected.  Gen 
eral  Connor,  who  has  been  returned  to  his  old  place,  as  military 
commander  of  the  district  of  Utah  alone,  is  assigned  a  force  of  only 
one  thousand  soldiers ;  though  he  asked  for  and  expected  to  have 
five  thousand.  The  lesser  number,  remote  from  all  possible  rein 
forcement,  is  entirely  inadequate  to  support  the  Governor  and  judges 
in  any  exercise  of  authority  that  they  may  dare  to  undertake,  and 
that  the  Mormons  may  chose  to  resist.  One  thousand  soldiers  could 
very  readily  be  "wiped  out," — which  is  a  favorite  phrase  of  the 
saints  towards  their  enemies, — by  a  sudden  uprising  of  the  fanatical 
followers  of  Br-igham  Young  and  his  apostles. 

17* 


394  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Excuse  for  such  uprising  is  in  much  danger  of  being  developed 
from  the  growing  strength  and  impatience  of  the  anti-Mormon  ele 
ments  in  society  at  Salt  Lake  City,  and  the  reckless,  desperate 
character  of  some  of  those  elements.  Miners  from  Idaho  and  Mon 
tana  have  come  into  that  city  to  winter,  to  spend  their  profits,  if  suc 
cessful,  or  to  pick  up  a  precarious  living,  if  unlucky.  Many  dis 
charged  soldiers  also  remain  there  or  in  the  neighboring  districts. 
The  growing  travel  and  commerce  across-  the  Continent  floats  in 
other  persons,  "good,  bad  and  indifferent"  as  to  habits  and  self- 
control.  Other  accessions  to  the  "  Gentile  "  strength  and  agitation 
are  constantly  being  made.  The  merchants  of  that  class  are  in 
creasing  and  becoming  prosperous ;  those  who  have  been  silent  and 
submissive  under  the  Mormon  hierarchy,  dare  now  to  demonstrate 
their  real  feelings,  under  the  protection  of  sympathy  and  soldiers ; 
the  "  Daily  Union  Vedette  "  continues  to  be  published  as  organ  of 
the  soldiers  and  other  "Gentiles,"  and  is  bold  and  unsparing  and 
constant  in  its  denunciations  of  the  Mormon  church  and  its  influ 
ences  ;  Rev.  Norman  MacLeod,  chaplain  of  the  soldiers,  and  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  society  in  Salt  Lake  City,  has  returned  from 
a  summer's  trip  to  Nevada  and  California,  with  funds  for  building  a 
meeting-house,  and  increased  zeal  against  the  Mormons;  a  "Gen 
tile  "  theater  has  been  established ;  various  social  organizations,  in 
the  same  interest,  are  increasing,  and  growing  influential  over  the 
young  people ;  General  Connor  himself,  his  fellow-officers  and  sol 
diers  are  all  bitter  in  their  hatred  of  the  Mormons,  and  eager  for 
opportunities  to  subdue  them  to  the  governmental  aulhority ;  Gov 
ernor  Durkee  seems  less  disposed  to  be  tolerant  of  the  Mormon 
control  and  the  Mormon  disrespect  to  federal  authority,  than  his 
predecessors  generally  have  been ;  and  the  judges,  goaded,  like  all 
the  rest  of  the  "  Gentiles,"  by  Mormon  insults  and  Mormon  defiance, 
and  their  own  incapacity,  under  government  neglect,  to  perform  their 
duties,  more  than  share  the  common  feeling  of  antagonism  to  the 
church  leaders. 

Thus  the  two  parties  are  growing  more  and  more  antagonistic, 
more  and  more  into  a  spirit  of  conflict.  Thus,  too,  while  are  rap 
idly  aggregating  and  operating  the  means  by  which  the  Mormon 
problem  is  ere  long  to  be  solved,  even  without  the  special  help 
or  interference  of  the  government,  are  also  coming  into  life  the 
elements  and  the  danger  of  a  more  serious  and  personal  collision, 
in  which  the  Mormons,  from  their  numerical  superiority,  would 
most  probably  be  successful,  and,  quite  likely,  wreak  terrible  ven- 


SUPPLEMENTARY   PAPERS:    THE    MORMONS.    395 

geance  on  their  enemies.  Of  course,  such  a  result  would  evoke  full 
retribution  on  their  own  heads ;  for  then  people  and  government 
would  arouse,  and  enforce  speedy  and  complete  subjugation. 

But  these  threatened  and  dreaded  results  ought  to  be  and  can  be 
avoided.  The  government  has  now  the  opportunity  to  guide  and 
control  the  operation  of  natural  causes  to  the  overthrow  of  po 
lygamy  and  the  submission  of  the  Mormon  aristocracy,  without  the 
shedding  of  blood,  without  the  loss  of  a  valuable  population  and 
their  industries.  The  steps  to  this  are,  first,  a  sufficient  military 
force  in  the  Territory  "  to  keep  the  peace  ;  "  to  protect  freedom  of 
speech,  of  the  press,  and  of  religious  proselytism  ;  to  forbid  any  per 
sonal  outrages  on  the  rights  ot  the  Mormons ;  and  to  prevent  any 
revenges  by  them  upon  the  "  Gentiles."  And  next,  the  supplanting 
of  all  polygamists  in  federal  offices  by  men  not  connected  with  that 
distinctive  sin  and  offense  of  the  church.  These  steps,  wisely  taken, 
firmly  administered,  would  rapidly  give  the  growing  anti-polyga 
mous  elements  such  moral  power,  as  would  ensure  speedy  and 
bloodless  revolution.  It  may  not  be  wise  or  necessary,  at  least  at 
present,  in  view  of  past  indulgence,  to  undertake  to  enforce  the  fed 
eral  law  against  polygamy ;  that  may  be  held  in  abeyance  until  the 
effect  of  such  proceedings  as  have  been  indicated  is  fully  developed. 
In  short,  I  would  change  the  government  policy  from  the  "do- 
nothing"  to  the  "make-haste-slowly"  character;  I  would  have  its 
influence  decidedly  and  continuously  felt  in  the  Territory  against  the 
crime  of  polygamy. 

Neglecting  to  do  this,  there  is  danger  of  anarchy  and  deadly  con 
flict  springing  up  on  that  arena ;  there  is  also  sure  prospect  that  the 
people  of  the  country  at  large  will,  in  their  impatience  and  disgust, 
force  upon  Congress  such  radical  measures  against  the  Mormons,  as 
are,  in  regard  to  our  past  neglect  and  the  present  opportunity  of 
peaceful  revolution,  to  be  almost  as  deeply  deprecated.  In  either 
event,  the  responsibility  will  rest  heavily  and  sharply  upon  the 
President  and  his  Cabinet,  who  are  permitting  the  affairs  of  the 
Territory  to  drift  on  in  the  present  loose  and  dangerous  way,  either 
ignorant  of,  or  indifferent  to,  the  rapidly  developing  social  conflict 
there. 


DEFENSE    OF    POLYGAMY. 

My  readers  may  be  interested  to  know  the  reply  of  the  Mormons 
to  my  letters  on  the  subject  of  Polygamy.     The  Deseret  News,  the 


396  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

official  organ  of  the  church,  had  such  a  reply  in  August,  from  which 
I  quote : — 

"  As  a  people  we  view  every  revelation  from  the  Lord  as  sacred. 
Polygamy  was  none  of  our  seeking.  It  came  to  us  from  Heaven, 
and  we  recognized  in  it,  and  still  do,  the  voice  of  Him  whose  right 
it  is  not  only  to  teach  us  but  to  dictate  and  teach  all  men,  for  in 
ills  hand  is  the  breath  of  the  nostrils,  the  life  and  existence  of  the 
proudest,  most  exalted,  most  learned  or  puissant  of  the  children  of 
men.  It  is  extremely  difficult,  nay  utterly  impossible,  for  those  who 
have  not  been  blessed  with  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  enter  into 
our  feelings,  thoughts  and  faith  in  these  matters.  They  talk  of  rev 
elation  given,  and  of  receiving  counter  revelation  to  forbid  what  has 
been  commanded,  as  if  man  was  the  sole  author,  originator  and  de 
signer  of  them.  Granted  that  they  do  not  believe  the  revelations 
we  have  received  come  from  God.  Granted  that  they  do  not  believe 
in  God  at  all,  if  tney  so  desire  it.  Do  they  wish  to  brand  a  whole 
people  with  the  foul  stigma  of  hypocrisy,  who,  from  their  leaders  to 
the  last  converts  that  have  made  the  dreary  journey  to  these  moun 
tain  wilds  for  their  faith,  have  proved  their  honesty  of  purpose  and 
deep  sincerity  of  faith  by  the  most  sublime  sacrifices  ?  Either  that 
is  the  issue  of  their  reasoning,  or  they  imagine  that  we  serve  and 
worship  the  most  accommodating  Deity  ever  dreamed  of  in  the 
wildest  vagaries  of  the  most  savage  polytheist.  Either  they  imagine 
that  we  believe  man  concocts  and  devises  the  revelations  which  we 
receive,  or  that  we  serve  a  God  who  will  oblige  us  at  any  time  by 
giving  us  revelations  to  suit  our  changing  fancies,  or  the  dictation 
of  men  who  have  declared  the  canon  of  revelation  full,  sealed  up 
the  heavens  as  brass,  and  utterly  repudiate  the  interference  of  the 
Almighty  in  the  atiairs  of  men.  By  the  first  of  these  suppositions 
we  would  be  gross  hypocrites  ;  by  the  other  grosser  idiots. 

"  Know,  gentlemen  of  the  press  and  all  whom  it  may  concern, 
that  though  a  repugnance  to  this  doctrine  may  be^  expressed  by  one 
in  a  thousand  of  the  people  whom  you  call  '  Mormons,'  he  is  not 
one,  nor  recognized  as  such  by  that  religious  community  of  which 
he  may  be  called  a  member.  If  one  revelation  is  untrue,  all  are 
untrue  ;  if  one  was  revealed  by  God,  all  have  their  origin  in  the 
same  Divine  source." 

The  News  goes  on  to  declaim  that  greater  purity,  better  morals 
accompany  Polygamy  than  Monogamy,  and  adds  : — 

"  As  well  might  it  be  said  that  the  affection  of  the  parent  must  be 
confined  to  one  child,  and  that  the  affection  of  a  united  family  could 
not  reciprocate  that  of  the  parent,  or  jealousy  would  creep  in,  bit 
terness  of  thought  be  engendered  and  the  finer  feelings  and  suscep 
tibilities  be  blunted,  is  that  one  man  cannot  entertain  for  and  ex 
tend  affection  to  more  than  one  woman,  or  that  his  affection  could 
not  be  -eciprocated  by  nore  than  one  without  the  same  results  being 
called  ;  :vto  existence. 

"  The  presumed  misery  consequent  upon  polygamy  is  advanced 
t 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:    THE   MORMONS. 

as  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  against  it.  Upon  what  is  it 
based?  Sonic  person  met  and  conversed  with  some  other  person 
who  did  not  enjoy  that  amount  of  happiness  in  polygamy,  which 
they  desired  to  realize.  Who  does  in  any  condition  of  life?  How 
many  mopogamic  wives  curse  the  hour  they  ever  entered  the  bonds 
01  wedlock  i1  There  is  no  argument  in  it,  nor  can  an  argument  be 
logically  based  upon  it.  It  is  a  statement,  and  can  be  met  by  a 
counter  statement  which  the  experience  of  this  united  people  can 
indorse,  they  having  had  a  practical  acquaintance  with,  and  an  ex*- 
perience  in,  the  workings  of  both  forms  of  marriage.  Take  fifty 
polygamic  families  indiscriminately  from  this  community,  and  the 
same  number  in  the  same  manner  from  any  other  community  in  the 
world,  and  there  will  be  found  more  conjugal  unhappiness  in  the 
latter  than  exists  in  the  former." 

'? 

The  Mormons  point  lustily  to  the  incontinence  and  license  that 
exist  in  society,  where  one  man  to  one  wife  is  the  rule,  as  practical 
argument  in  favor  of  their  system.  It  is  their  final  and  favorite  ap 
peal,  and  always  very  satisfactory — to  themselves.  They  hold  that 
there  is  more  real  purity  and  order,  in  the  intercourse  of  the  sexes, 
in  society  based  upon  Polygamy,  than  in  that  where  Monogamy  is 
the  law,  and  license  the  practice.  •> 


A   SPECIMEN    OF'  MORMON    PREACHING. 

This  extract  from  a  late  Sunday  discourse  in  the  Salt  Lake  City 
Tabernacle  by  Heber  C.  Kimball,  the  first  Vice-President  and  chief 
prophet  of  the  church,  is  a  fair  specimen  of  a  good  deal  of  the 
preaching  of  the  Mormon  bishops.  I  have  reports  of  other  ser 
mons  by  Brigham  Young  himself  and  others,  so  absolutely  filthy  in 
language,  that  they  cannot  be  reproduced  in  print  anywhere : — 

"  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  good  morning.  I  am  going  to  talk  to 
you  by  revelation.  I  never  study  my  sermons,  and  when  I  get  up 
to  speak,  I  never  know  what  I  am  going  to  say  only  as  it  is  revealed 
to  me  from  on  high ;  then  all  I  say  is  true ;  could  it  help  but  be  so, 
when  God  communicates  to  you  through  me  ?  The  Gentiles  are 
our  enemies  ;  they  are  damned  forever ;  they  are  thieves  and  mur 
derers,  and  if  they  don't  like  what  I  say  they  can  go  to  hell,  damn 
them  !  They  want  to  come  here  in  large  numbers  and  decoy  our 
women.  I  aave  introduced  some  Gentiles  to  my  wives,  but  I  will 
not  do  it  again,  because,  if  I  do,  I  will  have  to  take  them  to  my 
houses^  and  introduce  them  to  Mrs.  Kimball  at  one  house,  and  to 
Mrs.  Kimball  at  another  house,  and  so  on  ;  and  they  will  say  Mrs. 

Kimball  such,  and  Mrs.  Kimball  such,  and  so  on,  are'w .     They 

are  taking  some  of  our  fairest  daughters  from  us  now  in  Salt  Lake 
City,  damn  them.     If  I  catch  any  of  them  running  after  my  wives 


ACROSS   THE   CONTINENT. 

I  will  send  them  to  hell !  and  ladies  you  must  not  keep  their  com 
pany,  you  sin  if  you  do,  and  you  will  be  damned  and  go  to  hell. 
What  do  you  think  of  such  people  ?  They  hunt  after  our  fairest  and 
prettiest  women,  and  it  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  they  would  rather 
go  with  them  damned  scoundrels  than  Stay  with  us.  If  Brother 
Brigham  comes  to  me,  and  says  he  wants  one  of  my  daughters,  he 
has  a  right  to  take  her,  and  I  have  the  exclusive  right  to  give  her 
to  who  I  please,  and  she  has  no  right  to  refuse ;  it  she  does,  she 
will  be  damned  forever  and  ever,  because  she  belongs  to  me.  She 
is  part  of  my  flesh,  and  no  one  has  a  right  to  take  her  unless  I  say 
so,  any  more  than  he  has  a  right  to  take  one  of  my  horses  or  cows. 

"  All  the  federal  Governor  has  to  do  is  to  pay  the  legislature  and 
administer  justice.  Are  the  Governors  our  masters  ?  No,  sir  ;  not 
for  me  ;  they  are  our  servants.  We  have  our  apostolic  govern 
ment.  Brigham  Young  is  our  leader,  our  President,  our  Governor. 
I  am  Lieutenant-Governor.  Aint  I  a  terrible  feller?  Why,  it  has 
taken  the  hair  all  off  my  head.  At  least  it  would,  if  I  hadn't  lost 
it  before.  J  lost  it  in  my  hardships,  while  going  out  to  preach  the 
kingdom  of  God,  without  purse  or  scrip. 

"[To  the  Gentiles.]  Oh,  don't  be  scart  at  me  !  Come  up  to  my 
house  and  see  me.  I  will  give  you  some  peaches,  and  make  you 
happy.  I  have  two  sons  abroad  preaching  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Brother  Byrd  says  they  are  good  boys.  It  makes  me  proud  to  hear 
it.  I  want  the  time  to  come  when  I  can  send  out  fifty  sons  to 
preach,  all  at  one  lick.  Come  up  and  see  me.  I  will  give  you 
some  peaches.  I  will  give  you  some  apples.  I  would  give  you 
some  meat  if  I  had  it,  but  I  am  about  out." 


THE    EMIGRATION    OF    1865. 

The  Mormons  boast  of  one  thousand  emigrants  from  Europe  this 
season,  proselyted  and  shipped  by  their  missionaries  abroad.  Most 
of  them  are  English  and  Norwegians,  simple,  ignorant  people,  be 
yond  any  class  knowrn  in  American  society,  and  so  easy  victims  to 
the  shrewd  and  sharp  and  fanatical  Yankee  leaders  in  the  Mormon 
church.  Education,  common  schools  are  among  the  first  of  reforma 
tory  means  needed  in  Utah. 


II. 
MINES     AND     MINING. 


THE    MINES    IN    MONTANA. 

MR.  ALBERT  D.  RICHARDSON  of  our  summer  party,  who  remained 
behind  to  visit  Montana  and  Idaho,  writes  from  Virginia  City,  Mon 
tana,  October  28th,  as  follows : — 

"Montana  is  very  promising, — richer,  I  think,  than  any  of  our 
other  gold  or  silver  States  or  Territories.  The  placer  diggings  are 
paying  largely,  and  the  quartz  seems  to  me 'richer  than  anything  else 
I  have  seen ;  and  a  good  many  mills  are  coming  in.  But  the:  e  are 
lots  of  Montana  people  in  New  York  to  sell  leads,  many  of  whom 
ought  to  be  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  obtaining  money  under  false 
pretenses.  -"Beware  of  Wild-Cat'  should  be  written  over  every  arti 
cle  published  on  quartz-mining,  in  letters  so  large  that  he  who  runs 
may  read,  and  the  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  may  not  invest 
therein." 

From  other  sources  are  gathered  the  following  facts :  Alder  Gulch 
is  the  theater  of  the  original  and  most  extensive  gold-mining  in 
Montana.  Virginia  City  is  the  first  and  largest  town  here.  About 
thirty  millions  of  gold  have  been  taken  in  the  various  diggings  of 
the  gulch ;  and  the  quartz  mines  at  its  head  among  the  hills  are  now 
very  popular  and  promising.  The  present  population  of  the  Alder 
Gulch  region  is  about  fourteen  thousand.  About  one  hundred  and 
forty  miles  north  and  east,  more*  immediately  among  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  is  the  second  center  of  development  and  population ; 
and  Helena  is  its  chief  town,  with  about  five  thousand  inhabitants. 
Neighboring  valleys  and  gulches  are  also  rich  in  gold  and  silver, 
both  washings  and  quartz.  Many  millions  of  treasure  have  already 
been  obtained  from  this  section  of  the  Territory.  And  the  country 
is  described  as  very  picturesque  and  beautiful.  It  is  watered  by  the 
head  streams  of  the  Missouri  River, — the  Jefferson  and  Gallatin 
Rivers,  and  their  tributaries, — and  Fort  Benton,  the  head  of  naviga- 


4OO  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

tion  on  the  Missouri,  is  but  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  east 
from  Helena. 

The  maps  give  but  inadequate  idea  of  the  divisions  of  Idaho  and 
Montana,  and  their  chief  districts  of  gold  and  population.  Mon 
tana  lies  along  upon  the  Rocky  Mountains,  above  Colorado  and 
Utah,  mostly  on  the  western  slopes,  but  still  going  over  into  the 
eastern  valleys,  whose  waters  feed  the  Missouri  River,  and  find  their 
way  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Idaho  lies  beyond  Montana  to  the 
west,  among  the  Blue  Mountains,  and  the  upper  waters  of  the  Co 
lumbia  River,  or  its  Snake  River  branch.  The  population  of  each 
Territory  is  fickle ;  it  has  probably  been  from  twenty  thousand  to 
twenty-five  thousand  each,  during  the  past  summer ;  but  in  the  win 
ter  these  figures  will  be  reduced  one -third  to  one-half. 


THE    UNCERTAINTIES    OF    MINING. 

From  a  Lecture  in  San  Francisco  by  PROFESSOR  J.  D.  WHITNEY  of 

tJic  State  Geological  Survey  of  California. 

It  is  a  fact,  that  extremely  few  metalliferous  veins  are  equally 
rich  for  any  considerable  distance,  either  lengthwise  or  up  and 
down ;  the  valuable  portions  of  the  ore  are  concentrated  in  masses 
which  are  frequently  very  limited  in  extent,  compared  with  the  mass 
of  the  vein,  in  which  they  are  contained. 

It  is  a  fact,  that  indications  of  valuable  ores  on  the  surface  do  not 
always,  nor  once  in  a  hundred  times,  lead  to  masses  of  ore  beneath 
the  surface  of  a  sufficient  extent  and  purity  to  be  worked  with  profit. 
There  are,  literally  and  truly,  thousands  of  places  in  New  England 
where  ores  of  the  metals,  including  silver,  copper,  tin,  lead,  zinc, 
cobalt  and  nickel,  have  been  observed ;  many  of  these  have  given 
rise  to  mining  excitements,  and  have  been  taken  up,  worked  for  a 
time,  abandoned,  taken  up  again,  abandoned  again,  off  and  on  for 
the  last  fifty  or  even  a  hundred  years,  and  always  with  partial,  and 
usually  with  a  total,  loss  of  the  money  invested.  There  may  be  one 
solitary  mine  in  Vermont  which  is  paying  a  small  profit  to  the  share 
holders  ;  but  with  the  exception  of  this,  and  a  few  mines  of  iron  ore 
on  the  border  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  there  is  not  one 
which  has  not  cruelly  burned  the  fingers  of  those  who  have  meddled 
with  them. 

Even  on  Lake  Superior,  that  region  which  is  commonly  appealed 
to  as  made  up  of  solid  copper,  there  have  been  many  hundreds  of 
companies  formed,  and  at  least  a  hundred  mines  opened  and  worked 
more  or  less  extensively  ;  but  for  ten  years  after  mining  had  begun 
to  be  actively  carried  on  there,  only  two  of  the  mines  had  paid  back 
to  the  stockholders  one  cent  of  dividend.  Even  in  England,  it  is 
the  opinion  of  Mr.  Hunt,  the  Keeper  of  Mining  Records,  who  has 
devoted  many  years  to  the  investigation  of  the  statistics  of  this 


SUPPLEMENTARY    PAPERS:     MINES,  ETC.       40! 

branch  of  the  Nation's  wealth,  that  mining  for  the  metallic  min 
erals,  with  the  exception  of  iron,  is  not  on  the  whole  remunerative. 
There  is  a  wonderful  fascination  about  the  mining  business,  which 
seems  to  blind  the  eyes  and  bewilder  the  senses  of  'hose  who  come 
within  the  sphere  of  its  influence.  The  organ  of  hope  seems  to 
swell  up  and  predominate  over  all  the  othei's : — what  phantasma 
goria  will  aen  not  follow,  if  there  is  any  metallic  luster  about  it ! 

If  the  California  capital,  which  has  been  wasted  in  foolish  mining 
enterprises  in  this  State  and  on  its  borders  during  the  past  three 
years,  would,  as  I  fully  believe,  have  paid  for  a  railroad  to  Washoe  ; 
then  California  is  the  poorer  by  a  railroad  to  Washoe,  with  double 
track  and  rolling  stock  complete,  than  it  would  have  been,  had 
not  recklessness  and  ignorance  diverted  capital  from  this  great 
enterprise. 


THE    MINING    LAWS    AND    THEIR    OPERATION. 

From  the  Letters  of  MR.  CHARLES  ALLEN,  Lawyer,  of  Boston. 

The  method  of  establishing  mining  laws  strikes  one  who  is  ac 
customed  to  the  settled  usages  of  older  countries  as  very  peculiar. 
At  the  outset  the  miners  of  a  particular  region  get  together,  of  their 
own  motion,  fix  the  limits  and  name  of  their  district,  and  establish 
a  series  of  rules,  which  may  be  altered  in  methods  therein  pre 
scribed,  for  the  location,  holding  and  working  of  mines.  The  fun 
damental  idea  which  runs  through  all  of  these  rules  is,  that  he  who 
finds  a  mine  shall  have  the  right  to  locate  upon  the  ledge  a  certain 
number  of  feet  in  his  own  name,  after  which  other  locations  may  be 
made  by  anybody.  In  practice  the  discoverer  usually  locates  a 
number  of  claims  in  the  names  of  his  friends.  The  validity  of 
these  locations  depends  upon  doing  upon  the  ledge  a  certain  amount 
of  work  within  a  certain  time.  Provisions  are  also  'nserted  which 
are  designed  to  meet  such  contingencies  as  can  be  foreseen ;  but, 
although  the  general  principles  are  in  accordance  with  just  views 
of  what  is  right,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  provide  for  every  con 
dition  of  things ;  and,  besides,  the  rules  themselves  are  expressed 
in  language  not  always  clear.  An  immense  amount  of  litigation  is 
sure  ultimately  to  ensue,  and  there  is  no  place  in  the  world,  I  sup 
pose,  where  the  lawyers'  fees,  absolute  or  contingent,  are  so  large 
as  in  mining  regions.  Questions  of  fact  constantly  arise,  whether 
enough  work  has  been  done  to  hold  a  claim,  and  whether  two  veins 
which  appear  on  the  surface  to  be  different  do  or  do  not  in  fact  ulti 
mately  run  into  each  other.  If  they  do  come  together,  the  oldest 
location  prevails. 

It  is  well  understood  that  there  is  a  government  title,  which,  if 
ultimately  insisted  on,  is  beneath  all  titles  to  mining  property.  But 
it  is  so  plain,  both  as  a  matter  of  justice  and  policy,  that  this  title 
will  never  be  insisted  on,  that  I  do  not  regard  it  of  essential  impor 
tance  in  considering  the  practical  question  of  investing  money  in 
mines.  This  question  is  not  very  well  understood  yet  at  the  East, 
or  even  in  Congress.  But  the  leading  considerations  are  so  just 

26 


4O2  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

that  they  will  be  understood  before  final  action  is  taken.  The 
miners*  rules  have  been  recognized  in  State  courts  as  valrd  and 
having  the  force  of  law ;  and,  after  a  vigorous  contest  in  Congress, 
a  law  was  finally  passed  at  the  last  session,  which  provided  that 
"no  possessory  action  between  individuals,  in  any  of  the  courts 
of  the  United  States,  for  the  recovery  of  any  mining  title,  or  for 
damages  to  such  title,  shall  be  affected  by  the  fact  that  the  para 
mount  title  to  the  land  on  which  such  mines  are  is  in  the  United 
States,  but  each  case  shall  be  adjudged  by  the  law  of  possession." 
It  should  be  added  that  the  miners'  rights  are  superior  to  all  other 
rights  of  property  except  the  government  title.  The  survey,  loca 
tion  and  ownership  of  a  piece  of  land  as  real  estate  gives  no  right, 
under  the  miners'  laws,  to  the  minerals  which  it  contains. 


HOW    THE    METAL    IS    EXTRACTED    FROM    THE 
REESE    RIVER    QUARTZ. 

From  MR.  CHARLES  ALLEN'S  Letters  from  Nevada. 

After  the  quartz  has  been  extracted  from  the  mine,  it  is  taken  to 
the  mill,  broken  into  pieces  of  from  half  a  pound  to  two  pounds  in 
weight,  thoroughly  dried  by  the  application  of  heat,  and  then 
crushed  to  powder  in  the  mill.  Various  machines  are  advertised 
for  crushing  quartz,  which  their  inventors  and  proprietors  say  will 
accomplish  great  results,  but  none  of  them  are  yet  in  practice  and 
successful  use  at  Reese  River,  or  anywhere  else  that  I  know  of. 
The  process  universally  resorted  to  in  Nevada  is  the  old  stamp 
mill.  This  process  is  simply  the  dropping  of  heavy  weights  upon 
the  quartz,  which  s  placed  in  dies  prepared  to  receive  it.  Five 
stamps  are  usually  arrayed  side  by  side,  weighing  from  five  hundred 
to  seven  hundred  pounds  each.  They  are  raised  a  distance  of  from 
eight  to  ten  inches,  and  dropped  from  sixty  to  eighty-five  times  a 
minute.  A  wire  sieve  is  placed  upon  each  side  of  the  dies,  through 
which  the  powdered  quartz  escapes  into  a  receiver,  from  which  it  is 
taken  to  a  furnace,  where  it  is  subject  to  the  action  of  a  stream  of 
flame  from  five  to  eight  hours,  during  which  time  it  is  constantly 
stirred.  As  this  flame  carries  off  some  silver  bodily,  it  is  made  to 
pass  through  a  long  chamber,  and  exposed  to  cooler  air  before 
reaching  the  chimney,  so  that  the  silver  can  be  saved.  After  being 
roasted,  the  pulverized  quartz  is  ready  for  amalgamation.  At  the 
Midas  Mill,  which  is  considered  to  be  the  best  mill  at  Reese  River, 
the  amalgamation  is  done  by  the  Freiburg  barrels,  into  which  loose 
and  irregular  pieces  of  iron  are  placed  for  the  purpose  of  mixing 
the  quicksilver  with  the  pulp,  (as  the  pulverized  quartz  is  called,) 
and  which  are  then  revolved  over  and  over.  In  other  mills,  the 
pulp  is  put  into  tubs,  and  stirred  in  water  for  nearly  an  hour,  and 
then  the  quicksilver  is  applied,  and  the  mass  is  stirred  by  means  of 
iron  flanges  for  three  hours.  About  seventy-five  pounds  of  quick- 
oilver  are  allowed  for  one  thousand  pounds  of  pulp.  After  this,  the 


SUPPLEMENTARY   PAPERS  :     MINES,  ETC.       403 

water  is  drawn  off,  and  a  process  like  the  distillation  of  cider  brandy 
is  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  saving  the  quicksilver,  and  the 
amalgam,  composed  of  silver  and  quicksilver,  is  squeezed,  to  get 
out  the  quicksilver,  after  which  it  is  put  into  the  retort,  and  upon 
being  subjected  to  heat  more  quicksilver  passes  off  in  fumes,  and 
is  saved,  and  the  crude  bullion  which  is  left  is  ready  to  be  taken  to 
the  assay  office.  This  is  substantially  the  process  used  at  Reese 
River,  where  dry  crushing  is  necessary,  on  account  of  the  presence 
of  the  baser  metals.  In  Virginia  and  its  vicinity,  where  the  ore  is 
of  a  different  character,  and  far  less  rich,  it  is  crushed  wet,  and  not 
roasted,  and  the  expense  is  much  less. 


EASTERN    INVESTMENT    IN    REESE    RIVER    MINES. 
From  the  Letters  of  MR.  ALLEN  of  Boston. 

Boston  has  already  invested*  a  million  of  dollars  in  the  Reese 
River  mines.  Will  these  investments  pay?  In  reply  to  this  ques 
tion,  it  may  be  said  in.general  terms  that  those  who  expect  to  get 
back  their  money  speedily  will  be  disappointed,  and  that  a  large 
shave  and  perhaps  the  bulk  of  them  will  probably  never  get  back 
their  money  at  all.  I  have  made  some  inquiry  with  a  view  to  ascer 
tain  how  many  out  of  the  seven  thousand  mines  within  this  (Austin) 
the  richest  district  have  already  paid  their  actual  working  expenses ; 
and  my  conclusion  is,  that  this  is  true  of  not  over  thirty.  Of  course, 
this  is  not  a  fair  test  for  so  new  a  country.  Good  mines  do  not 
ordinarily  pay  until  the  water  level  is  reached;  and  much  work 
must  be  clone  before  that.  Many  good  mines  here  have  been  so  far 
worked  that  they  are  now  apparently  on  the  point  of  paying  a  profit. 
Besides,  some  very  rich  mines  have  been  badly  managed.  The 
above  fact,  therefore,  is  not  mentioned  as  affording  a  fair  test  for 
the  future.  Still  it  is  worthy  of  the  attention  of  those  who  consider 
a  silver  mine  as  sure  to  bring  immediate  profits. 

It  is  perfectly  surprising  to  observe  the  recklessness  with  which 
investments  in  silver-mining  property  have  been  made  at  the  East. 
Prudent,  sagacious,  and  experienced  persons,  who  would  not  pay 
ten  thousand  dollars  for  a  country  house,  or  five  hundred  dollars  for 
a  horse,  without  careful  consideration  and  examination,  appropriate 
much  larger  sums  to  the  purchase  of  mining  interests,  merely  upon 
the  representations  of  the  sellers.  This  has  been  done,  and  will  be 
again.  Of  course,  when  capitalists  are  so  ready  to  part  with  their 
money,  swindling  transactions  will  be  frequent.  Some  purchasers 
that  I  have  heard  of  will  never  be  able  to  find  their  property  at  all. 
Others  have  paid  very  large  sums  for  what  could  be  purchased  here 
for  very  small  sums.  A  leading  citizen  of  this  place  remarked  to 
me,  "  I  do  not  see  why  eastern  gentlemen  who  have  surplus  funds 
will  invest  them  in  our  mines,  while  there  are  faro  banks  at  home." 
This  is  an  extravagance  ;  but  it  is,  after  all,  not  altogether  inappli 
cable  to  those  who  undertake  to  realize  profits  here,  without  taking 
the  ordinary  business  precautions. 


404  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 


GENERAL  ROSECRANS  ON  THE  MINES  OF  NEVADA. 

GENERAL  ROSECRANS,  who  has  spent  much  time  this  summer  in 
the  Reese  River  country  of  Nevada,  as  the  representative  of  a  Boston 
mining  company,  offers  the  following  conclusions  as  the  result  of  his 
observations : — 

1.  The  number  of  lodes  of  silver  ore  is  almost  unlimited  in  Ne 
vada,  and  no  part  of  the  State  shows  more  lodes  or  richer  ores  than 
Reese  River. 

2.  Therefore  many  of  great  richness  of  ore  must  remain  utterly 
without  value,  present  or  prospective,  for  years  to  come ;  hence,  not 
every  "large"  lode,  however  promising  the  ore,  should  be  purchased, 

3.  No  reduction  works  should  be  erected  upon  a  single  lode,  how 
ever  promising,  lest  the  at  least  temporary  failure  of  an  adequate 
supply  of  ore  should  entail  losses  upon  the  company. 

4.  Only  those  mines  which  have  several  lodes  in  such  proximity 
to  each  other  as  to  be  easily  and  economically  worked  by  the  same 
superintendent,  and  with  a  single  set  of  machinery  for  pumping 
water  and  hoisting  the  ore,  are  likely  to  be  truly  successful. 

5.  This  is  the  more  important  in  this  country,  where  the  whole 
surface  of  the  country  is  a  net-work  of  small  rich  lodes,  running 
parallel  to  and  crossing  each  other  in  every  direction,  and  often  only 
a  few  feet  apart,  because  these  spurs  and  cross-cuts  add  to  a  com 
pany's  chances  of  increased  profit  and  success,  and  give  it  moreover 
all  the  benefit  of  its  own  draining,  shafting,  tunnelling  and  ventilation. 

6.  Whoever  buys  single  mines, — mines  far  apart,  or  high  in  the 
hills  and  of  difficult  access, — must  expect  to  lose  money  by  them,  or 

.to  hold  them  as  "permanent  investments." 

7.  It  ought  to  be  known  by  the  public  that  much  of  the  mining  is 
at  present  speculative,  and  most  of  the  money  that  is  made  off  un 
fortunate  purchasers  of  mines,  at  high  prices,  goes  into  the  hands 
of  "middle  men,"  who  are  quite  willing  to  profit  by  the  losses  of 
both  capitalists  and  miners. 

Such  is  the  feverish  eagerness  of  the  poor  locaters  and  proprie 
tors,  that  they  hasten  to  give  deeds  in  fee  to  some  adventuring 
speculator,  who  starts  for  the  East  to  sell  their  mines  for  all  they 
can  get,  regardless  of  what  becomes  of  the  mine  or  the  purchaser. 

But  on  the  question  of  the  really  almost  unlimited  quantity  of  the 
precious  metal  in  Nevada,  and  of  the  existence  of  the  necessary 
salt,  water,  fuel  and  other  necessaries  for  their  mining  and  reduction 
in  such  a  way  as  to  amply  remunerate  well-directed  capital,  I  enter 
tain  no  doubt,  nor  do  I  think  any  other  attentive  observer  would. 
Really  all  that  Bishop  Simpson  said  about  the  quantity  of  silver  in 
this  State,  fanciful  as  it  may  appear  to  those  who  have  not  been 
here,  is  no  exaggeration. 


III. 
MP     COLFAX'S     SPEECHES. 


THIS  record  of  the  remarkable  Summer's  Journey  Across  the 
Continent  would  be  incomplete,  without  some  portion,  at  least,  of 
the  many  and  valuable  public  speeches  on  the  route,  by  MR.  COL- 
FAX,  whose  high  public  position  and  wide  personal  popularity  made 
the  trip  so  conspicuous,  and  gave  all  its  participants  such  rare  ad 
vantages.  These  speeches  are  but  generally  described  in  the  Let 
ters  ;  and  the  extracts  that  follow, — only  too  limited  by  the  confines 
of  the  volume, — relate  almost  solely  to  special  themes  connected 
with  the  development  and  civilization  of  the  Mountain  and  Pacific 
States : — 

MR.    LINCOLN'S    MESSAGE    TO    THE    MINERS. 
From    MR.  COLFAX'S  Speech  at   Central   City,   Colorado,  May   27. 

He  had  come  in  part  to  bring  a  message  from  our  late  President, — 
that  noble  man,  so  pure,  so  patriotic,  so  forgiving,  the  most  lovable 
of  all  men,  whose  tender  heart  bore  no  ill-will,  who  never  answered 
railing  with  railing ;  on  the  very  night  he  was  seeking  to  soften  the 
fate  of  the  fallen  enemies  of  the  country,  struck  down  by  the  as 
sassin.  The  crime  towered  in  its  infamy,  but  its  purpose  was  not 
accomplished.  It  was  intended  to  weaken  the  Nation,  but  it  made 
the  Nation  stronger.  It  had  placed  Abraham  Lincoln  on  the  very 
pinnacle  of  fame.  He  did  not  die  because  he  was  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  but  because  he  represented  the  Nation's  contest  with  and  vic 
tory  over  treason.  We  might  engrave  his  name  on  marble, — it 
would  crumble ;  we  might  inscribe  it  on  Mt.  Blanc,  where  that  liv 
ing  wall  four  thousand  feet  in  hight  overlaid  a  portion  of  the  moun 
tain  eleven  thousand  feet  high, — that  granite  spire  would  moulder 
in  fragments  round  the  base  of  its  pedestal  before  the  name  and 
memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln  would  be  forgotten. 

.Said  Mr.  Lincoln  to  me,  when  I  called  the  day  before  his  death, 
to  say  good-bye : — "  Mr.  Colfax,  I  want  you  to  take  a  message  from 
me  to  the  miners  whom  you  visit.  I  have  (said  he)  very  large  ideas 
of  the  mineral  wealth  of  our  Nation.  I  believe  it  practically  inex 
haustible.  It  abounds  a)1  O"rer  the  western  countrv.  from  the  Rocky 


4O6  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Mountains  the  Pacific,  and  its  development  has  scarcely  com 
menced.  During  the  war,  when  we  were  adding  a  couple  of.  mil 
lions  of  dollars  every  day  to  our  national  debt,  I  did  not  care  about 
encouraging  the  increase  in  the  volume  of  our  precious  metals. 
We  had  the  country  to  save  first.  But  now  that  the  rebellion  is 
overthrown  and  we  know  pretty  nearly  the  amount  of  our  national 
debt,  the  more  gold  and  silver  we  mine,  makes  the  payment  of  that 
debt  so  much  the  easier.  Now,  (said  he,  speaking  with  much  em 
phasis,)  I  am  going  to  encourage  that  in  every  possible  way.  We 
shall  have  hundreds  of  thousands  of  disbanded  soldiers,  and  many 
have  feared  that  their  return  home  in  such  great  numbers  might 
paralyze  industry  by  furnishing  suddenly  a  greater  supply  of  labor 
than  there  will  be  demand  for.  I  am  going  to  try  to  attract  them 
to  the  hidden  wealth  of  our  mountain  ranges,  where  there  is  room 
enough  for  all.  Immigration,  which  even  the  war  has  not  stopped, 
will  land  upon  our  shores  hundreds  of  thousands  more  per  year 
from  overcrowded  Europe.  I  intend  to  point  them  to  the  gold  and 
silver  that  waits  for  them  in  the  West.  Tell  the  miners  from  me, 
that  I  shall  promote  their  interests  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability ;  be 
cause  their  prosperity  is  the  prosperity  of  the  Nation,  and  (said  he, 
his  eye  kindling  with  enthusiasm,)  we  shall  prove  in  a  very  few 
years  that  we  are  indeed  the  treasury  of  the  world" 

That  evening  he  (Mr.  Colfax)  had  called  again  and  was  with  the 
President  half  an  hour  just  before  he  started  for  the  theater,  to 
which  he  had  been  invited  to  accompany  him.  But  he  expected  to 
leave  Washington  the  next  morning,  and  having  other  engagements 
for  the  evening,  he  could  not  go.  The  President  was  still  in  the 
highest  spirits  in  the  evening.  As  he  was  departing  for  the  theater, 
accompanied  to  the  door  by  Mr.  Ashmun  of  Massachusetts, — the 
last  walk  to  the  door  of  the  Executive  Mansion  he  was  ever  to 
take, — as  they  were  shaking  hands,  a  thought  seemed  to  strike  the 
President,  who  repeated  in  a  condensed  form  what  he  had  just  de 
livered  to  us,  thus  showing  how  important  he  held  it,  and  said  to 
him,  "Don't  forget,  Colfax,  to  tell  those  miners  that  that  is  my 
speech  to  them, — a  pleasant  journey  to  you.  I  will  telegraph 
you  at  San  Francisco, — good-bye," — the  last  good-bye  of  his  life. 
These  words  he  brought  were  the  last  words  of  the  President,  on 
public  subjects  before  the  bullet  of  the  assassin  crashed  through 
his  brain.  It  showed  that  amid  the  exultation  consequent  on  the 
grandest  consummation  of  the  dearest  wishes  of  the  President  and 
the  Naticn,  the  interests  of  the  great  West,  particularly  of  the 
miners,  were  uppermost  in  his  thoughts.  These  words  were  true, 
prophetic.  ""v  -  •*•*.-*  y 

-T— ^ 

THE  ^RESPECTIVE    DUTIES    OF   GOVERNMENT   AND 
PEOPLE— SUGGESTIONS    TO    THE    MORMONS. 

From  MR.*  COLFAX'S  Speech  at   Great  Salt  Lake  City,  June   12. 

I  have  had  a  theory  for  years  past  that  it  is  the  duty  of  men  who 
are  in  public  life,  charged  with  a  participation  in  the  government 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  SPEECHES.    4O/ 

of  a  great  country  like  ours,  to  know  as  much  as  possible  of  the 
interests,  development,  and  resources  of  the  country  whose  destiny, 
comparatively,  has  been  committed  to  their  hands.  And  I  said  to 
my  friends,  if  they  would  accompany  me,  we  would  travel  over  the 
New  World  till  we  could  look  from  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  towards 
the  Continent  of  Asia,  the  cradle  of  the  human  race.  And,  there 
fore,  we  are  here,  traveling  night  and  day  over  your  mountains  and 
valleys,  your  deserts  and  plains,  to  see  this  region  between  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Pacific,  where,  as  I  believe,  the  seat  of 
Empire  in  this  Republic  ultimately  is  to  be. 

Now,  you  who  are  pioneers  far  out  here  in  the  distant  West,  have 
many  things  that  you  have  a  right  to  ask  of  your  government.  I  can 
scarcely  realize  with  this  large  assembly  around  me,  that  there  is  an 
almost  boundless  desert  of  twelve  hundred  miles  between  myself  and 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  There  are  many  things  that  you  have 
a  right  to  demand ;.  you  have  created,  however,  many  things  here 
for  yourselves.  No  one  could  traverse  your  city  without  recogniz 
ing  that  you  are  a  people  of  industry.  "  It  happened  to  be  my  fortune 
in  Congress  to  do  a  little  towards  increasing  the  postal  facilities  in 
the  West,  not  as  much  as  I  desired,  but  as  much  as  I  could  obtain 
from  Congress.  And  when  it  was  proposed,  to  the  astonishment  of 
my  fellow-members,  that  there  should  be  a  daily  mail  run  across 
these  pathless  plains  and  mighty  mountains,  through  the  wilderness 
of  the  West  to  the  Pacific,  with  the  pathway  lined  with  our  enemies 
the  savages  of  the  forest,  and  where  the  luxuries  and  even  the  nec 
essaries  of  life  in  some  parts  of  the  route  are  unknown,  the  project 
was  not  considered  possible ;  and  then,  when  in  my  position  as 
Chairman  of  the  Post-Office  Committee,  I  proposed  that  we  should 
vote  a  million  of  dollars  a  year  to  put  that  mail  across  the  Continent, 
members  came  to  me  and  said  "You  will  ruin  yourself."  They 
thought  it  was  monstrous,  an  unjust  and  extravagant  expenditure. 
I  said  to  them,  though  I  knew  little  of  the  West  then  compared  to 
what  I  have  learned  in  the  few  weeks  of  this  trip,  I  said,  "The  peo 
ple  along  the  line  of  that  route  have  a  right  to  demand  it  at  your 
hands,  and  in  their  behalf  I  demand  it."  Finally  the  bill  was  coaxed 
through,  and  you  have  a  daily  mail  running  through  here,  or  it  would 
run  with  almost  the  regularity  of  clockwork,  were  it  not  for  the  in 
cursions  of  these  savages.  And  here  let  me  say,  by  way  of  paren 
thesis,  that  if  I  ever  had  any  particular  love  for  "the  noble  red  man," 
it  is  pretty  much  evaporated  during  this  trip.  I  do  not  think  as 
much  of  him  as  I  did.  They  were  looking  down  from  the  hills  at 
us,  as  we  have  since  learned ;  and  had  it  not  been  that  Mr.  Otis  and 
I  had  our  hair  cut  so  short  at  Atchison,  that  it  would  not  have  paid 
expenses  to  be  taken  even  by  an  Indian,  they  might  have  scalped  us. 
^  You  had  a  right  to  this  daily  mail,  and  you  have  it.  You  had  a 
right,  also,  to  demand,  as  the  eastern  portion  of  this  Republic  had, 
telegraphic  communication  speeding  the  messages  of  life  and  death, 
of  pleasure  and  of  traffic ;  that  the  same  way  should  be  opened  up 
by  that  frail  wire,  the  conductor  of  Jove's  thunderbolts,  tamed  down 
and  harnessed  for  the  use  of  man.  And  it  fell  to  my  fortune  to  ask 
it  for  you ;  to  ask  a  subsidy  from  the  government  in  its  aid.  It  was 
but  hardly  obtained ;  yet,  now  the  grand  result  is  achieved,  who  re- 


4O8  ACROSS   THE   CONTINENT. 

grets  it, — who  would  part  with  this  bond  of  union  and  civilization? 
There  was  another  great  interest  you  had  a  right  to  demand.  In 
stead  of  the  slow,  toilsome  and  expensive  manner  in  which  you 
freight  your  goods  and  hardware  to  this  distant  Territory,  you  should 
have  a  speedy  transit  between  the  Missouri  valley  and  this  intra- 
montane  basin  in  which  you  live.  Instead  of  paying  two  or  three 
prices, — sometimes  overrunning  the  cost  of  the  article, — you  should 
have  a  railroad  communication,  and  California  demanded  this.  I 
said,  as  did  many  others  in  Congress,  "This  is  a  great  national  en 
terprise  ;  we  must  bind  the  Atlantic  and^Pacific  States  together  by 
bands  of  iron ;  we  must  send  the  iron  horse  through  all  these  val 
leys  and  mountains  of  the  interior,  and  when  thus  interlaced  to 
gether,  we  shall  be  a  more  compact  and  homogeneous  Republic." 
And  the  Pacific  Railroad  bill  passed.  This  great  work  of  uniting 
three  thousand  miles,  from  shore  to  shore,  is  to  be  consummated, 
and  we  hail  the  day  of  peace,  because  with  peace  we  can  do  many 
things  as  a  Nation  that  we  cannot  do  in  war.  This  railroad  is  to  be 
built,  this  company  is  to  build  it ;  if  they  do  not,  the  government 
will.  It  shall  be  put  through  soon ;  not  toilsomely,  slowly,  as  a  far 
distant  event,  but  as  an  event  'of  the  decade  in  which  we  live.  *  *  * 
And  now,  What  has  the  government  a  right  to  demand  of  you?  It 
is  not  that  which  Napoleon  exacts  from  his  officers  in  France, — 
which  is  allegiance  to  the  Constitution  and  fidelity  to  the  Emperor. 
Thank  God,  we  have  no  Emperor  nor  despot  in  this  country,  throned 
or  unthroned.  Here,  every  man  has  the  right,  himself,  to  exercise 
his  elective  suffrage  as  he  sees  fit,  none  molesting  him  or  making 
htm  afraid.  And  the  duty  of  every  American  citizen  is  condensed 
in  a  single  sentence,  as  I  said  to  your  committee  yesterday, — not  in 
allegiance  to  an  Emperor,  but  allegiance  to  the  Constitution,  obedience 
to  the  laws,  and  devotion  to  the  Union.  [Cheers.]  When  you  live  to 
that  standard,  you  have  the  right  to  demand  protection ;  and  were 
you  three  times  three  thousand  miles  from  the  national  capital, 
wherever  the  starry  banner  of  the  Republic  waves  and  a  man  stands 
under  it,  if  his  rights  of  life,  liberty  and  property  are  assailed,  and 
he  has  rendered  this  allegiance  to  his  country,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
government  to  reach  out  its  arm,  if  it  take  a  score  of  regiments,  to 
protect  and  uphold  him  in  his  rights.  [Cheers.] 


THE    MINES    AND    THEIR    TAXATION. 
From   MR.  COLFAX'S  Speech  at   Virginia  City,  Nevada,  June  26. 

I  know  that  in  all  these  mining  regions,  there  is  some  distrust  and 
alarm,  in  regard  to  the  taxation  of  the  mines;  and  I  came  here. this 
evening  to  this  balcony,  that  I  might  tell  you  frankly  what  I  believe 
myself,  about  this  interesting  subject,  whether  it  agrees  with  your 
views,  or  does  not  agree  with  them, — for  I  can  only  speak  to  you 
those  words  that  I  sincerely  believe.  I  take  it  for  granted,  in  the 
first  place,  that  everybody  in  this  broad  land  has,  directly  or  indi 
rectly,  to  aid  in  the  payment  of  our  national  debt ;  that  debt  which 
has  been  accumulated  for  the  salvation  of  our  country ;  a  debt  which, 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  SPEECHES.    409 

great  as  it  is,  is  small  in  comparison  with  the  value  of  the  great  in 
terests  which  were  saved  by  its  incurring.  For  though  it  has  cost 
much  to  save  this  country,  it  will  prove  in  the  end  that  it  has  cost 
less  to  save  than  it  would  have  cost  to  lose  the  country.  The  ques 
tion  is,  how  shall  this  burden  be  adjusted  ?  For  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  statesman  to  adjust  that  burden  with  equity  to  all  the  interests 
in  the  land.  I  came  from  my  home  on  this  long  journey,  not  for 
pleasure  and  relaxation  alone,  but  for  instruction ;  that  I  might  see 
with  my  own  eyes  the  improvement  in  the  West,  the  interests  and 
resources  of  the  country  on  this  side  of  the  Continent,  its  wants  and 
what  it  had  a  right  to  demand  of  legislation.  Having  been  in  the 
past, — and  I  do  not  speak  of  it  boastfully,  for  I  believe  you  all  know 
what  I  have  done  for  western  interests  in  the  past, — having  been  in 
that  past  a  sincere  and  earnest  friend  of  western  interests,  I  thought 
that  a  personal  visit  to  this  interesting  region  of  the  Republic,  now 
being  developed  rapidly,  and  to  be  developed  with  tenfold  rapidity 
in  the  years  which  are  to  come,  now  that  peace  has  returned  to  our 
land,  might  make  me  a  more  intelligent  and  useful  friend  and  advo 
cate  of  western  interests  than  ever  before. 

In  the  first  place,  I  believe  in  a  fable  that  I  read  in  my  younger 
years,  the  moral  of  which  was  that  you  should  never  kill  the  goose 
which  laid  the  golden  egg.  On  the  contrary,  you  should  encourage 
the  goose  to  lay  more  eggs  of  that  kind.  [Applause.] 

I  think  that  is  a  principle  you  will  all  agree  in.  We  are  having 
an  immense  immigration  from  Europe.  It  was  scarcely  checked  by 
the  war,  even  with  all  the  threatening  of  a  draft  hanging  over  the 
immigrant, — a  threat  which  the  potentates  and  powers  of  Europe 
published  throughout  their  lands,  and  had  described  with  exaggera 
ted  terrors.  The  subjects  in  Europe  were  told  that  our  country  was 
racked  with  civil  strife,  was  going  clown  into  anarchy  and  ruin ;  that 
the  great  institutions  of  American  liberty  were  overthrown,  and  that 
we  were  to  be  consigned  to  constant  intestine  war  hereafter.  In 
spite  ot  all  these  prophecies  of  evil,  immigrants  poured  in  upon  us, 
even  during  the  war,  by  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands.  They 
will  come  by  hundreds  of  thousands  hereafter.  They  have  to  go 
somewhere  in  this  broad  land.  When  they  arrive  on  our  shores 
from  overcrowded  Europe,  they  should  be  pointed  to  this  western 
realm  of  country,  filled  with  the  precious  metals,  open  for  all  men  to 
come  and  prospect  and  gather  for  themselves.  I  want  no  fetters  of 
restriction  placed  upon  the  mining  prospector  who  is  willing  to  pur 
sue  his  hazardous  vocation.  On  the  contrary,  I  would  encourage 
him,  and  I  would  encourage  others  to  come  hither  and  follow  his  ex 
ample,  by  extending  every  reasonable  inducement.  And  I  think  we 
have  a  precedent  in  our  legislation,  which  justifies  us  in  throwing  open 
all  these  lands  to  whomsoever  may  choose  to  come  here  to  dig  for  sil 
ver  and  for  gold.  If  you  will  look  at  the  policy  of  our  country,  which, 
after  years  of  stormy  contest  in  Congress,  was  finally  settled  in  regard 
to  our  agricultural  lands, — a  policy  that  will  never  be  repealed, — 
you  will  find  a  policy  which  is  the  truest  and  wisest  that  a  great 
country  could  adopt  in  order  to  have  its  people  tilling  the  soil,  be 
coming  producers  of  national  wealth,  adding  to  our  agricultural  re 
sources,  calling  our  people  away  from  the  crowded  cities  to  make 
18 


4IO  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

them  tellers  of  the  soil  of  the  Republic.  That  policy  is  to  give  them 
an  estate  at  a  nominal  price,  throwing  open  our  public  lands  to  them, 
that  they  may  become  owners  of  the  soil  they  till  and  have  a  stake 
in  the  prosperity  of  the  Nation.  That  is  the  great  object  sought  to 
be  obtained,  and  which  is  obtained,  by  the  provisions  of  the  home 
stead  law.  If  that  is  the  just  policy  in  regard  to  the  agricultural 
lands,  it  is  equally  just  in  regard  to  the  mineral  lands.  Because  the 
man  who  goes,  enjoying  the  benefits  of  the  homestead  law,  to  till 
the  soil,  is  assured  of  success.  He  knows,  judging  by  all  ordinary 
calculations,  that  when  he  turns  over  the  greensward  with  his  plow 
and  puts  in  the  seed,  it  will  return  him  ten,  twenty  or  fifty  fold.  But 
the  miner,  on  the  contrary,  knows  that  his  vocation  is  a  hazardous 
one ;  and  if  there  should  be  a  priority  of  benefits  to  either,  I  would 
hold  out  rather  more  inducements  to  the  miner  upon  the  mineral 
lands,  than  I.  would  to  the  tiller  upon  the  acres  of  agricultural  lands. 
[Applause.]  But  I  believe  in  assimilating  the  policy.  If  it  is  right 
in  the  one  case  it  is  right  in  the  other,  and  upon  that  rock  of  right  I 
plant  myself  in  that  policy.  [Applause.] 

But  the  homestead  law  says  that  this  land  shall  only  be  given  to 
the  farmer  upon  condition  that  he  will  occupy  and  improve  the  land 
himself.  If  he  abandon  the  land,  he  loses  it.  If  he  attempts  to 
hold  it  as  a  non-resident,  he  loses  it.  He  must  go  on  and  add  to  the 
national  wealth  by  his  industry ;  and  upon  that  condition  he  receives 
the  land  at  a  mere  nominal  fee  for  the  patent  granted  to  him,  after 
five  years  occupancy,  by  the  government.  That  seems  to  be  the 
correct  policy,  and  that  should  be  the  policy  in  regard  to  the  mineral 
lands.  While  the  right  of  discovery  and  occupancy  should  be  pro 
tected  by  the  government,  when  mineral  discoveries,  or  what  are 
supposed  to  be  such,  are  abandoned,  they  should  not  be  held  to  the 
exclusion  of  those  who  might  be  willing  to  work  the  abandoned 
claims.  That  is  a  doctrine  which  is  based  upon  the  principles  of 
justice,  I  think. 

Now,  my  friends,  in  regard  to  taxation,  I  have  precedents  which 
will  be  familiar  to  you  when  I  quote  them.  And  I  speak  of  these 
things  because  I  would,  as  far  as  possible,  impress  on  your  minds 
those  precedents,  as  I  believe  them  to  be  right,  and  that  your  sena 
tors,  and  that  your  representatives  may  place  your  claims  and  your 
demands  in  the  Capital  at  Washington,  not  upon  the  basis  of  a  bo 
nus  to  the  miner,  but  upon  the  basis  of  justice  as  compared  with 
other  interests  in  the  land.  Let  us  examine  the  principles  of  the 
tax  bill  which  we  have  framed.  I  know  that  it  is  a  heavy  and  oner 
ous  tax  bill.  Nothing  in  the  shape  of  a  tax  bill  is  calculated  to  be 
popular.  Government  can  never  get  that  class  of  bills  exactly  cor 
rect  ;  and  I  would  not  claim  that  this  one  is  exactly  correct,  although 
I  believe  it  is  as  nearly  equal  in  its  burdens  as  possible.  In  that 
tax  bill  you  will  see  illustrated  the  policy  of  Congress,  which  has 
been  to  put  the  tax  as  far  away  as  possible  from  the  first  production 
of  the  soil.  Let  us  take,  for  instance,  the  article  of  wood.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  tax  bill  levying  a  tax  on  wood  growing  in  the  foiest 
or  cut  down .  by  the  forester ;  but  when  the  wood  is  manufactured 
into  a  buggy,  into  a  wagon,  into  cabinet-ware,  or  into  any  other  kind 
of  work  made  of  wood,  then  the  tax  accrues  for  the  first  time  upon 


SUPPLEMENTARY   PAPERS  I     SPEECHES.         4!  I 

the  manufactured  article,  whatever  it  may  be,  and  not  until  then. 
It  is  so  with  wool.  There  is  no  tax  in  the  national  tax  law  on  the 
wool  upon  the  sheep's  back;  there  is  no  tax  upon  it  after  it  is 
clipped  from  the  sheep's  back  and  /acked  up  in  bales  in  the  store  • 
of  the  wool  merchant  or  sheep  raiser.  But  when  the  wool  is  manu- ; 
factured  into  woolen  goods,  then  it  is  taxed, — not  until  then.  The 
same  principle  applies  to  tobacco,  which  I  presume  you  know  is  very 
heavily  taxed.  Now,  I  don't  suppose  that  any  of  you  drink  whiskey. 
[Laughter  and  cries  of  "No,  no!"  "never!"]  But  if  you  do  drink 
whiskey, — which  I  don't, — you  will  realize  that  every  glass  of  whis 
key  which  you  drink  and  pay  for,  contributes  a  portion  to  the  reve 
nues  of  the  general  government,  whether  you  like  it  or  not.  Now  I 
take  all  my  vice  out, — (I  think  every  man  is  guilty  of  at  least  one 
vice, — I  don't  believe  there  are  any  perfect  men, — I  believe  the 
ladies  are  about  all  perfect,  Heaven's  last  best  gift  to  man,  but  I 
believe  that  all  men  are  addicted  to  one  vice  or  another) — I  take  my 
vice  out  in  tobacco,  in  smoking.  I  take  my  cigar,  and  have  the 
satisfaction  of  thinking  that  by  every  one  I  smoke  I  am  aiding 
somewhat  in  the  support  of  the  general  government.  If  any  of  you 
take  patent  medicines,  you  are  entitled  to  feel  the  same  interest  and 
satisfaction  in  the  operation.  [Laughter.]  You  will  see  on  the  out 
side  label  a  stamp  of  from  two  to  four  cents.  So  much  is  contribu 
ted  to  the  general  government  from  that  particular  source.  But,  to 
resume  seriously :  There  is  no  tax  upon  tobacco  in  the  leaf,  nor  is 
there  any  tax  upon  the  corn  out  of  which  the  whiskey  is  made. 
When  the  corn  is  manufactured  into  whiskey,  then  the  government 
puts  the  tax  on  the  whiskey.  When  the  tobacco  is  manufactured 
into  cigars  or  plug,  then  the  tax  is  put  on.  This  is  the  policy  of  the 
general  government  in  this  respect.  There  is  only  one  exception  to 
it.  That  is  cotton.  Cotton  is  taxed  when  it  is  produced  in  the 
field.  There  is  a  reason  for  that.  Cotton  used  to  be  king.  We 
concluded  that  we  would  see  if  we  could  not  in  this  Republic  dare 
to  tax  the  king.  That  is  the  only  exception  in  the  tax  law.  In 
every  other  case  the  tax  is  put  away  from  the  produce  until  the 
article  is  manufactured  or  ready  for  consumption. 

You  understand  already  what  I  am  going  to  say  to  you.  That  is 
just  my  theory  in  regard  to  the  taxation  of  the  precious  metals. 
Don't  embarrass  the  men  who  are  taking  the  precious  metals  out 
of  the  mines ;  but  when  these  metals  are  assayed,  when  they  enter 
as  bullion  or  coin  into  the  monetary  wealth  of  the  country,  then  they 
will  be  taxed,  and  then  they  should  be  taxed,  and  then,  whether  you 
like  it  or  not,  they  must  be  taxed.  [Great  applause.]  I  think  that 
is  the  true  basis  to  put  this  whole  question  upon  in  Congress,  and, 
presented  in  that  way,  I  believe  that  you  can  command  success  and 
that  regard  for  your  interests  which  you  need  and  justly  require. 


THE    PACIFIC    RAILROAD. 

From   MR.  COLFAX'S  Speech,  at   Virginia   City,  Nevada,  June  26. 
A  VOICE. — "How  about  the  Pacific  Railroad?" 
In  regard  to  the  Pacific  Railroad,  I  can  only  turn  to  my  record  on 


412  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

that  subject  I  believe  the  Pacific  Railroad  to  be  a  national  and  po 
litical  and  military  necessity.  I  believe  that  there  should  b£  a  rail 
road  binding  this  great  Continent  together  with  its  iron  bands.  It  is 
riveted  and  banded  together  now  by  mountain  and  river  and  plain, 
upon  which  are  written:  "What  God  has  joined  together  let  no 
man  put  asunder."  And  when  the  tide  of  immigration  poured 
across  these  Plains  and  made  these  States  of  the  Pacific  Coast, 
looking  out  over  the  slope  of  the  Sierras  across  the  Pacific  Ocean 
to  the  birthplace  of  mankind,  the  Continent  of  Asia,  I  believed  it 
was  our  duty,  the  duty  of  those  of  us  living  in  the  older  States,  to 
make  the  means  of  transit  between  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  States 
not  a  slow  and  toilsome  journey  by  ox  or  horse  or  mule  team,  but  by 
the  iron  horse  that  we  have  in  all  other  portions  of  the  land.  Years 
and  years  ago,  before  there  was  a  Pacific  Railroad  bill  passed  in 
Congress,  I  was  its  earnest  advocate.  When  men  talked  about  the 
amount  of  money  that  would  have  to  be  paid  by  the  general  gov 
ernment  in  the  building  of  a  line  of  road,  I  said  that  was  not  an  iota 
in  the  balance  in  comparison  with  its  national  benefits.  Since  that 
time  the  necessity  for  it  has  been  enhanced.  It  is  needed  for  the  de 
velopment  of  this  mineral  wealth.  Go  with  me  to  Austin,  where  I 
saw  their  seams  of  silver  with  my  own  eyes.  There  are  mines  there 
which  would  be  sources  of  wealth  on  either  side  of  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vadas.  Many  of  them,  besides  those  now  being  worked,  could  be 
developed,  but  cannot  be  now.  Why?  Because  of  their  distance 
from  their  base  of  supplies ;  because  of  the  great  cost  of  freight, — 
of  machinery.  But  when  we  have  a  Pacific  Railroad  opening  to  this 
vast  interior  region,  with  all  its  enormous  resources,  then  the  mining 
pioneers  of  our  country  will  be  able  to  work  with  great  profit  the 
mineral  lands  which  cannot  now  be  worked  at  all.  It  will  pay  back 
to  our  national  treasury  far  more  than  the  bonus  which  may  be  given 
to  aid  in  the  construction  of  such  a  railroad  or  railroads ;  it  will  add 
to  our  national  wealth ;  besides  being  a  bond  of  union,  firm  as  the 
eternal  hills,  over  which  the  tracks  will  run.  And  I  believe  that  it 
is  about  to  come,  and  come  rapidly,  if  continued  peace  enables  us  to 
devote  the  energies  of  the  country  to  it. 


THE    REPUBLIC    AND    PEACE— THE    MEXICAN 
QUESTION. 

From  MR.  COLFAX'S  Speech  at  San  Francisco,  July  8. 

So  much  for  the  past  and  present  of  our  country.     Now,  what  of 
its  future  ?     Providence  hides  destiny  from  individuals. 

"  Heaven  from  all  creatures  hides  the  book  of  Fate ; 
All  but  the  page  prescribed, — the  present  state." 

But  Nations  can  predict  their  destiny  for  themselves.  It  is  beyond 
the  limit  of  mortal  conception  to  compass  the  grandeur  of  the  future 
of  our  Nation,  if  prudence  guides  its  course.  Napoleon  has  said  in 


SUPPLEMENTARY   PAPERS:     SPEECHES.         413 

his  day,  after  a  bloody  war,  that  his  empire  was  peace ;  we  can  more 
truly  say  that  this  Republic  is  peace.  Peace  is  the  mission  of  Free 
dom,  and  Freedom  is  the  primal  principle  of  the  American  Repub 
lic.  It  is  not  by  the  glory  and  triumphs  of  aggressive  war  that  its 
destiny  is  to  be  realized,  but  by  peace. 

I  am  here  among  you  people  of  California  apparently  a  welcome 
guest.  You  have  placed  full  confidence  in  my  honesty  of  purpose, 
and  I  would  not  appear  before  you  to  speak  only  those' words  which 
you  would  applaud,  when  I  really  differed  from  you.  I  know  how 
you  feel  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  driving  out  Maximilian.  [Tre 
mendous  applause.]  I  do  not  agree  with  you  on  these  subjects ;  I 
will  be  frank  with  you.  I  am  opposed  to  war  for  any  purpose,  or 
for  any  cause,  except  for  the  vindication  of  the  national  honor,  or 
the  salvation  of  the  Union.  [Applause.]  I  am  for  such  a  war,  if  it 
should  occupy  four,  ten  or  forty  years;  but  to  war  in  any  other 
cause,  that  can  be  honorably  avoided,  I  am  opposed.  You  people 
of  California  have  not  seen  the  horrors  and  desolations  of  war 
around  your  own  doors ;  you  have  not  seen  the  hundreds  and  thou 
sands  of  friends,  neighbors  and  countrymen  torn,  mangled,  dead  and 
dying  on  the  cold  earth  moistened  by  their  blood ;  you  have  not 
seen  the  long  string  of  ambulances  carrying  the  mangled,  groaning, 
suffering  thousands  as  they  have  been  carried  to  the  hospitals  to  die, 
or  to  suffer  mutilation  even  worse  than  death,  that  cause  vigorous, 
industrious  men  to  become  burdens  on  society  for  life  ;  you  have  not 
seen  and  could  not  have  heard  of  half  the  horrors  of  war.  Oh,  it 
is  a  fearful  thing  to  rush  into  war,  except  for  the  preservation  of 
one's  country.  Such  a  war  is  as  sacred  as  the  war  against  the  Sara 
cens  to  save  the  sepulchre  of  the  Savior  from  the  pollution  of  the 
Infidel.  I  am  for  no  war  with  any  Nation,  if  that  war  can  by  any 
honorable  statesmanship  be  avoided,  even  if  by  saying  so  I  shall  be 
driven  into  private  life.  I  am  a  believer  in  the  justice  and  patriot 
ism  and  republicanism  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  [Tremendous  ap 
plause.]  But  I  am  not  for  war  with  France  and  England  on  that 
question  now,  with  its  renewed  destruction  of  our  commerce ;  its 
rivers  of  blood,  and  its  millions  of  added  debt.  I  want  the  Pacific 
Railroad  built,  instead  of  the  laurels  of  victory  on  fields  of  carnage 
and  of  death.  I  want  the  progress  and  blessings  of  peace,  instead 
of  more  hecatombs  of  piled  up  dead,  and  hundreds  of  millions 
more  of  debt.  I  want  the  prosperity  and  developments  of  peace.  I 
do  not  object  to  the  principles  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  I  admire 
the  courage  and  patriotism  of  Juarez  and  his  patriot  bands  in  de 
fence  of  their  native  land.  I  do  not  think  Maximilian  is  the  right 
ful  ruler  of  Mexico.  [Enthusiastic  applause.]  But  I  object  to  rush 
ing  into  a  foreign  war  ere  we  have  scarcely  ended  our  domestic  one, 
to  drive  him  out.  I  believe  that  diplomacy  can  effect  the  purpose 
better.  Time  may  settle  it  for  us,  if  we  are  but  patient  and  firm. 
When  you  have  a  President  in  the  chair,  who  is  such  a  believer  in 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  as  Mr.  Johnson,  whose  sentiments  expressed 
in  the  Senate  of  the  Nation  on  this  question,  leave  us  in  no  doubt 
where  he  stands.  Trust  him,  then,  to  effect  this  object.  His  patri 
otism  no  one  can  doubt.  Faithful  among  the  faithless,  he  stood  by 
his  country  when  every  other  southern  senator  faltered  or  deserted!. 


414  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Remember  that  his  chief  adviser  is  W.  H.  Seward,  whom  God  has 
spared  from  the  bloody  harvest  of  the  assassins  who  thought  to 
gather  the  lives  of  six  of  the  truest  in  the  land,  but  reaped  with 
their  murderous  sickle  but  one.  Trust  him !  His  diplomacy  has 
more  than  once  saved  the  country  from  a  foreign  war,  and  will  solve 
this  question  successfully  without  war.  We  are  strong  enough  as  a 
Nation  to  gain  our  own  ends  without  wars.  Let  us  stand  by  and 
trust  in  the  government,  in  Johnson,  in  Seward,  in  Stanton  and 
their  faithful  associates,  and  all  will  be  well.  [Applause.] 


CALIFORNIA'S    PAST    AND    FUTURE. 

From  MR.  COLFAX'S  Speech  at  San  Francisco,  July  8. 

You,  as  a  people,  are  most  deeply  interested  in  the  future  progress 
and  prosperity  of  our  common  country.  Less  than  twenty  years 
ago, — and  what  a  little  time  it  appears, — this  great  city  of  San  Fran 
cisco  was  not ;  its  site  was  scarcely  known.  But  gold  was  discov 
ered,  and  hither  came  adventurous  pioneers  w-ith  their  caravans, 
laden,  not  with  the  spices  and  perfume  of  Asia,  nor  like  the  cara 
vans  of  the  Indies,  with  their  wealth,  but  with  their  wives,  children, 
and  household  goods,  wending  their  way  over  the  sandy  deserts,  or 
scaling  craggy  passes  through  the  mighty  mountain  ranges  that  sep 
arate  you  from  your  sister  States  on  the  Atlantic  side  of  the  Con 
tinent.  These  were  men  of  energy  and  of  iron  will ;  and  it  needs 
both  to  travel  two  thousand  miles  over  such  a  country,  and  to  brave 
the  blood-thirsty  savages  on  the  way.  They  were  men  of  faith, 
tried  in  the  ordeal  of  adversity,  and  profited  by  its  lessons.  It  was 
such  men  who  founded  your  State,  it  was  such  men  that  saved  it 
from  the  grasp  of  slavery,  which  its  advocates  had  already  fastened 
upon  it.  It  was  by  their  means  that  she  entered  the  glorious  sister 
hood  of  States,  clothed  in  the  golden  robes  of  Freedom.  If  with 
such  a  foundation,  with  the  example  of  such  men  before  you,  you 
are  but  true  to  yourselves,  it  is  beyond  the  power  of  language  to 
picture  the  glory  of  your  future.  Your  city  is  destined  to  become 
the  New  York  of  the  Pacific,  commanding  much  of  the  trade  of 
China,  Japan,  India,  Australia,  Mexico,  South  and  Central  America, 
while  your  store  of  mineral  wealth,  and  the  richness  and  variety  of 
your  grain  and  fruit,  and  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  your  people, 
mast  make  your  future  great  and  glorious.  Then  the  interest  taken 
in  the  departures  of  your  semi-monthly  steamers,  will  be  lost  in  the 
continued  daily  departures  of  many  to  all  parts  of  the  globe.  And 
now,  as  I  say  to  you  good-night,  let  us  all  rejoice  together,  that, 
from  Orient  to  Occident;  from  sea  to  sea;  from  the  Atlantic  sea 
board,  where  the  masts  of  our  commerce  are  like  the  trees  of  the 
forest,  across  valley  and  river,  over  the  vast  mountains  that  lift  their 
mighty  forms  as  sentinel  watch-towers  of  our  inheritance;  to  the 
Golden  Gate ;  from  the  frozen  North  to  the  sunny  South,  we  have 
now,  and  shall  have  in  all  the  coming  centuries,  but  one  Nation,  one 
Constitution,  one  Flag,  arid  one  glorious  Destiny ! 


SUPPLEMENTARY   PAPERS  I     SPEECHES.         415 

AMERICA    AND    BRITAIN. 

From  MR.  COLFAX'S  Speech  at  Victoria,  Vancouver's  Island,  July  27. 

You  have  given  me  a  welcome  that  is  truly  gratifying.  I  see 
around  me  not  only  American  citizens,  but  the  officials,  civil  and 
military,  and  the  subjects  of  that  great  and  good  woman,  Queen  Vic 
toria.  Although  I  am  a  republican  in  every  sinew  and  fiber,  I  never 
think  of  her  without  my  heart  flowing  with  gratitude.  When  our 
country  was  in  imminent  peril,  and  when  Great  Britain  and  America, 
the  representatives  of  a  common  lineage,  a  common  language,  and, 
if  such  it  can  be  called,  a  common  religion,  were  almost  embroiled 
in  mortal  conflict  on  the  Trent  difficulty,  Queen  Victoria  stepped  in 
and  demanded  of  her  ministers  that  the  character  of  their  missives 
should  be  conciliatory;  that  it  should  not  be  repulsive  to  the  United 
States,  but  should  enable  the  American  people  to  comply  with  the 
request  without  any  sacrifice  of  honor.  On  that  occasion  she  proved 
her  wisdom,  her  sagacity,  and  her  kindness.  ******* 

I  know  there  are  difficulties  between  the  United  States  and  Na 
tions  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  but  these  can  be  safely  con 
fided  to  the  sagacity  and  wisdom  of  the  respective  governments. 
We  Americans  should  never  forget,  so  long  as  we  speak  the  same 
tongue,  how  much  we  owe  to  the  people  of  the  British  Isles, — in 
science  and  art ;  in  history  and  literature  ;  in  poesy  and  song.  We 
claim  an  equal  share  in  the  fame  of  Shakespeare  and  Milton,  Cowper 
and  Pope,  Gibbon  and  Macaulay,  Newton  and  Rosse.  *  *  *  * 

The  people  of  Great  Britain  respect  the  memory  of  Wilberforce. 
I  think  it  was  Macaulay  who  said  of  that  great  man,  when  he  as 
cended  to  the  judgment-seat  of  God,  that  he  held  in  his  hands  the 
shackles  of  a  hundred  thousand  of  his  fellow-beings.  We  had  an 
other  name  hallowed  in  all  our  memories,  and  never  to  be  forgotten 
in  connection  with  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves, — the  name  of  a 
great  and  good  and  kind-hearted  man, — Abraham  Lincoln, — who, 
taking  the  helm  of  State,  never  despaired  of  our  great  Republic, 
proving  himself  the  faithful  and  indomitable  pilot,  steering  through 
good  and  ill  the  Ship  of  State.  While  he  stood  at  the  helm,  he  was 
the  greatest  and  purest  and  best  in  the  land;  and  when  he  went 
above,  he  took  with  him  the  fetters  of  a  down-trodden  and  oppressed 
race,  which  no  power  on  God's  footstool  could  ever  again  place  on  their 
enfranchised  limbs.  The  whole  civilized  world  now  sees  that  when 
ingrates  and  rebels  lit  the  torch  of  civil  war,  they  also  lit  the  funeral 
pyre  of  the  institution  of  slavery.  Let  me,  not  be  misunderstood ; 
I  believe  that  this  war  will  open  a  new  era  for  the  genial  and  fertile 
land  of  the  South.  The  honorable  gentleman  here  sketched  in  glow 
ing  language  the  peculiar  advantages  of  the  South,  saying  that  it 
held  three  great  keys  of  the  country, — Hampton  Roads,  the  keys  of 
Florida  and  New  Orleans ;  and  that,  with  free  and  paid  labor  to  re 
place  that  enforced  system  of  labor  which  had  been  a  blight  to  man 
kind, — for  with  Lamartine  he  believed  that  God  never  allowed  a 
chain  to  be  bound  round  the  limbs  of  the  slaves,  without  forging 
the  other  end  round  the  neck  of  the  oppressor, — the  fortunes  of  the 
country  would  again  be  in  the  ascendant.  If  our  people  were  only 


4l6  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

faithful  to  themselves,  to  their  institutions,  to  the  country,  they  would 
merit  and  attain  to  the  grandest  destiny  that  lay  in  the  womb  of  time 
for  any  Nation  on  the  globe.  Instead  of  thirty-six  stars,  a  whole 
galaxy  of  blazing  orbs  would  spangle  that  glorious  field  of  blue. 
The  star  of  Washington  Territory, — that  only  Territory  that  has 
been  named  after  the  great  and  immortal  statesman, — would  shine 
there ;  the  stars  of  Idaho,  of  Montana,  of  Colorado,  of  all  the  Ter 
ritories,  would  shine  on  that  glorious  flag,  and  all  these  noble  States 
would  revolve  round  the  central  government  as  one  central  sur  — 
distinct  as  the  billows,  but  one  as  the  sea ! 


FAREWELL    SPEECH, 
At  the  Parting  Banquet  in  San  Francisco,  September  I. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen : — The  brevity  that  an  occasion  like  this 
commands,  impels  me  to  omit  much  that  rises  before  my  mind  as  I 
stand  before  you.  *  But  the  kind  and  generous  hospitalities  of  which 
we  have  been  the  recipients,  culminating  in  this  brilliant  testimonial, 
wrhich  is  at  once  a  reception  and  a  farewell,  and  the  very  cordial  and 
complimentary  address  to  which  I  have  just  listened,  forbid  that  I 
should  remain  entirely  silent. 

Just  two  months  ago,  after  journeying  over  thousands  of  miles  of 
mountains  and  valleys  and  deserts  and  plains,  your  honored  Mayor, 
and  a  Committee  of  your  Supervisors  met  us  in  the  cabin  of  the 
steamer  "Chrysopolis,"  and  gave  us  an  official  welcome  to  this 
seven-hilled  city.  Since  then,  in  all  our  travels  upon  this  Coast,  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  speak  of  San  Francisco  as  a  home.  And 
now,  though  I  came  here  a  strange i  and  a  traveler,  I  feel  like  one 
who  is  indeed  about  to  leave  his  home  and  hearthstone.  [Applause.] 

When  on  Saturday  morning;  I  sail  out  through  the  Golden  Gate 
upon  the  broad  ocean,  and  see  headland  and  cliff  recede  from  view, 
I  shall  feel,  as  now,  the  inward  struggle  between  the  joy  with  which 
I  think  of  the  home  and  the  many  friends  of  many  years,  and  the 
regret  with  which  I  leave  the  home  I  hope  I  have  in  the  hearts  of 
new  friends  here. 

Our  party  came  hither  to  learn,  by  actual  observation,  more  of 
this  Pacific  portion  of  the  Republic,  its  resources  and  its  wants;  and 
you  can  testify  that  the  grass  has  not  grown  under  our  feet.  We 
have  seen  your  varieties  of  mining, — placer,  hydraulic  and  quartz. 
We  have  seen  many  of  your  rich  agricultural  valleys, — the  Sacra 
mento,  San  Joaquin,  San  Jose,  Petaluma,  Russian  River  Napa, 
Sonoma,  Alameda,  and  others.  We  have  traveled  on  nearly  every 
mile  of  your  two  hundred  to  three  hundred  miles  of  railroads,  clos 
ing  with  the  delightful  excursion  to-day  on  the  Alameda  Railroad, 
for  which  we  were  indebted  to  its  president,  Mr.  Cohen.  We  have 
visited,  or  passed  through,  over  half  of  your  cities  and  towns.  We 
have  enjoyed  visits  to  your  great  national  curiosities,  the  world-re 
nowned  Yosemite  Valley,  to  be  visited  by  thousands  hereafter,  in 
stead  of  scores,  if  California,  by  wise  legislation,  appreciates  the 


SUPPLEMENTARY   PAPERS:     SPEECHES.         417 

gift  of  it  from  the  general  government, — the  Big  Trees,  the  Geysers, 
and  your  neighbors,  the  Sea  Lions. 

We  have  examined,  with  interest,  many  of  your  manufactures,  and 
reared  as  I  was,  in  the  school  of  Henry  Clay,  to  believe  in  Ameri 
can  manufactures,  I  am  prouder  of  the  suit  in  which  I  am  clothed 
to-night,  of  California  cloth,  from  wool  on  the  back  of  California 
sheep,  woven  by  the  Mission  Woolen  Mills,  and  made  here,  than  of 
the  finest  suit  of  French  broadcloth  I  ever  owned.  [Applause.]  I 
would  urge  you,  in  these  last  words,  to  foster  manufactures,  which 
are  the  backbone  of  national  or  State  prosperity  and  independence. 
Even  if  they  should  not  be  profitable  as  a  pecuniary  investment, 
every  triumph  of  mechanical  or  manufacturing  industry  here,  is 
another  spoke  in  the  wheel  of  your  progress.  Develop  and  foster 
commerce  on  your  great  Pacific  sea  ;  for  Raleigh  spoke  truly  when 
he  said,  "Those  who  command  the  sea,  command  the  trade  of  the 
world ;  those  who  command  the  trade  of  the  world,  command  the 
riches  of  the  world ,  and  thus  command  the  world  itself."  [Applause.] 

But  the  moments  sweep  by.  and  I  must  not  detain  you  longer. 
There  have  been  weary  hours  in  all  this  incessan'  journeying,  but 
they  have  been  happy  and  golden  hours,  too ;  happy,  because  full- 
freighted  with  hospitality  and  feasts  to  the  eye  and  the  mind; 
golden,  because  filled  with  recollections  that  will  never  die ;  friend 
ships  never  to  be  forgotten  till  this  heart  ceases  to  beat ;  affectionate 
regards  more  priceless  than  the  wealth  of  Ormuz  and  the  Ind  j  and 
memories  enshrined  in  the  soul  forever,  [Applause.] 

Hoping  I  have  a  happy  God  speed  from  you  all  on  the  long  jour 
ney  before  me,  I  must  now  say  farewell, — no,  not  farewell,  for  that 
seems  for  life,  and 

"Farewell,  farewell,  is  a  lonely  sound 

That  always  brings  a  sigh ; 
But  give  me  rather,  when  true  friends  part, 
That  good  old  word,  good-bye." 

And  thus,  to  friends  of  other  years,  whom  I  have  met  here  so  hap 
pily  again,  and  to  the  newer  friends  I  have  found  in  your  midst,  I 
bid  you,  one  and  all,  not  a  life-long  but  a  regretful  Good-Bye. 

IS*  27 


IV. 

IDAHO    AND     ITS     MINES. 


WITH  AN  ACCOUNT   OF  THE   OVERLAND   JOURNEY 
FROM   OREGON   TO   SALT   LAKE  CITY. 

THE  following  letter  concerning  Idaho  Territory,  its  mines  and 
miners,  and  the  routes  through  it,  was  written  for  the  Editor  of  this 
Volume  by  a  distinguished  and  intelligent  citizen  of  Oregon,  who 
has  just  traveled  leisurely  through  that  country,  and  properly  com 
pletes  the  observations  and  information  as  to  the  Pacific  States  and 
Territories,  which  the  book  has  undertaken  to  give.  The  letter  will 
be  found  very  interesting,  and  its  facts  are  reliable : — 

SALT  LAKE  CITY,  October  i,  1865. 

The  route  from  Oregon  to  Salt  Lake,  through  Idaho,  a  distance 
of  over  eight  hundred  miles,  presents  occasional  rare  scenic  views 
and  interesting  objects.  We  left  The  Dalles,  at  the  eastern  slope  of 
the  Cascade  Mountains,  in  the  gray  of  early  morning  _  and  a  ride  of 
thirteen  miles  over  Oregon's  longest  railroad,  at  the  base  of  towering 
rocky  bluffs  which  there  line  the  southern  bank  of  the  Columbia, 
along  the  narrow  gorges  of  the  river,  worn  deep  into  the  hard  ba 
salt,  sometimes  so  near  the  edge  as  to  reveal  the  dark  surface  of  the 
river,  far  down  below;  then  so  closely  to  the  mountain  bluff  that  it 
seemed  to  overhang  and.  threaten  with  its  fall,— brought  us  to  Celilo, 
the  depot  of  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company's  (conven 
iently  abbreviated  to  O.  S.  N.  Co.)  boats  on  the  Upper  Columbia. 
Here  we  were  transferred  to  one  of  their  comfortable  steamers,  in 
which  we  made  the  trip  to  Wallula.  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-three  miles,  much  of  the  way  against  a  strong  current,  in 
about  twenty  hours.  The  country  along  this  portion  of  the  river  is 
i  the  main  uninviting.  It  consists  of  bakl  and  mostly  barren  hills, 
or  sandy  flats.  Here  and  there  along  the  way,  on  either  side,  at 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  IDAHO.      419 

long  intervals  are  small  streams  putting  into  the  river,  and  draining 
proportionately  small  valleys,  upon  which  are  scattered  settlements. 
But  the  great  surface  of  the  country  is  unoccupied  and  unsuscepti 
ble  of  settlement. 

At  Wallula  we  took  seats  in  the  stage  for  Walla  Walla,  the  site 
of  the  old  fort  of  that  name,  and  a  pleasant,  thrifty  town  of  fifteen 
hundred  or  two  thousand  inhabitants.  A  disastrous  fire  had,  a  few 
weeks  before,  swept  away  near  one-half  of  the  village,  but  it  was 
rapidly  being  rebuilt.  This  region  has  in  former  years  been  the 
scene  of  Indian  troubles,  and  Walla  Walla  is  a  point  of  historic  in 
terest  with  officers  of  the  old  army.  Probably  half  of  their  num 
ber  have  sometime  visited  the  post,  while  not  a  few  have  been 
stationed  there,  and  have  participated  in  the  Indian  wars  the  sur 
rounding  country  has  been  the  theater  of. 

The  valley  of  the  Walla  Walla  consists  of  uplands,  valuable  for 
grazing,  but  too  arid  for  cultivation,  interspersed  with  bottoms  or 
low-lands,  mostly  farmed  without  irrigation,  and  some  of  which  are 
of  surpassing  fertility.  The  corn,  small  grains,  root  crops,  melons, 
squashes,  etc.,  which  were  growing  or  standing  harvested  upon  the 
ground,  might  be  safely  compared  with  the  richest  productions  of 
the  Mississippi  valley.  But  these  lands  are  limited,  and  the  best 
portion  of  them  claimed,  and,  where  for  sale,  held  at  high  figures 
for  a  new  country. 

The  country  along  the  route  from  Wallula  comprises  little  but  al 
kali  plains,  covered  with  sage  brush,  with  an  occasional  fertile  spot, 
upon  which  usually  is  located  a  stage  station,  and  cultivated  a  boun 
tiful  garden.  This  region,  like  all  that  east  of  the  Cascade  range,  is 
exempt  from  the  winter  rains  of  western  Oregon  and  California, 
The  winters  are  dry  and  cold,  though  much  milder  and  accompanied 
with  less  snow  than  in  like  latitudes  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

At  Walla  Walla,  going  east,  is  commenced  the  overland  stage 
ride.  This  is  the  starting  point  proper  of  Thomas  &  Ruckel's- 
stages  for  the  Boise  mining  region,  connecting  there  with  Holladay's 
line  for  Salt  Lake  and  Missouri  River.  The  distance  from  Walla 
Walla  to  Boise  City  is  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Another 
line  of  stages  leaves  the  Columbia  at  Umatilla  Rapids,  twenty-two 
miles  below  Wallula,  connecting  at  Uniontown,  situated  at  the 
southern  end  of  Grand  Ronde  valley.  Messrs.  Thomas  &  Ruckel 
have  constructed  a  road  across  the  Blue  Mountains,  over  which 
their  stages  pass.  It  is  new,  in  perfect  repair,  and  one  of  the  best 
mountain  roads  upon  the  Continent.  A  ride  upon  it  over  the  Blue 


42O  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

range  is  surpassingly  grand,  and  an  event  to  be  remembered  and 
enjoyed  for  a  lifetime.  Sometimes  you  pass  high  up  along  the  very 
edge  of  a  deep  ravine,  where  a  capsize  on  the  wrong  side  would 
precipitate  you  hundreds  of  feet  into  the  rocky  gorge  below ;  again, 
you  are  upon  a  lofty  mountain  top,  where  the  scenery,  as  far  as 
vision  can  reach,  is  as  wild  and  beautiful  as  eye  ever  rested  upon ; 
then  you  are  in  the  bottom  of  a  deep  gorge,  where  mountains  above 
you  covered  with  immense  forests  tower  almost  out  of  sight ;  now 
you  find  yourself  in  a  natural  park,  stretching  miles  away,  studded 
with  bright  yellow  pines  and  carpeted  with  luxuriant  grass.  Thus  the 
panorama  is  ever  changing,  ever  inspiringly  grand  and  enchanting. 

The  first  day's  ride  brought  us  to  the  Warm  Springs,  where  the  pro 
prietors  of  the  stage  line  are  erecting  a  substantial  hotel  and  other 
buildings  suited  to  a  watering  and  bathing  place.  Here  are  three 
springs  of  sulphur  water,  of  just  the  right  temperature  for  bathing, 
gushing  out  from  the  rocky  sides  of  the  mountain.  In  one  of  them 
I  enjoyed  a  delightful  bath,  and  here  I  found  some  rheumatic  ac 
quaintances  being  cured  of  their  malady  by  the  healing  virtues  of 
the  medicinal  waters  which  nature  has  so  lavishly  provided. 

The  Blue  are  often  pronounced  "the  best  mountains  in  Amer 
ica  ; "  the  most  gradual  of  ascent,  with  the  best  soil,  grass  and  tim 
ber.  Upon  their  highest  summits,  where  the  timber  is  not  too 
thick  to  permit  their  growth,  the  finest  quality  and  greatest  quantity 
of  natural  grasses  are  found. 

The  second  day's  ride  took  us  through  the  Grand  Ronde  valley, 
a  beautiful,  level  tract  of  country,  from  forty  to  fifty  miles  in  length 
and  twenty  or  thirty  in  width,  surrounded  on  every  side  with  moun 
tains.  It  is  a  pleasant  spot  to  look  upon,  but  too  much  elevated  for 
general  agricultural  value.  For  years  the  emigrant  to  Oregon  has 
passed  through  this  valley  on  his  weary  way  to  the  Willamette. 
Occasionally  a  late  party  would  winter  here,  on  account  of  the  abun 
dant  grass,  and  resume  their  journey  in  the  spring.  But  all  were 
deterred  from  settling  by  the  long  winters  and  late  and  early  frosts. 
Since  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Idaho,  the  only  line  of  travel  from 
the  West  and  North  has  been  through  this  valley.  This  gives  a 
high  value  to  the  hay  which,  in  lavish  abundance,  is  cut  here.  Con 
sequently  many,  who  in  former  years  passed  neglectfully  through 
here,  returned  and  settled  in  Grande  Ronde.  But  they  will  be 
compelled  to  depend  mainly  upon  their  herds  and  hay,  for  the  late 
springs  and  early  falls  render  the  production  of  anything  else  diffi 
cult  and  uncertain.  We  passed  through  in  early  September,  and 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  IDAHO.     421 

the  country  had  already  been  visited  with  a  light  snow,  and  frosts 
so  heavy  that  all  tender  vegetation  was  completely  killed.  Fields 
of  wheat  were  green  and  unharvested. 

Passing  out  of  the  Grand  Ronde  through  the  only  "gap"  in  the 
surrounding  hills,  we  enter  Powder  River  Valley,  less  in  size  than 
Grand  Ronde,  and  nearly  valueless  for  farming  or  grazing.  A  few 
settlers  are  found  here,  but  the  valley  is  mostly  destitute  of  grass, 
and  covered  with  sage  brush.  In  this  valley,  yet  in  Oregon,  we 
stopped  a  day  to  visit  the  Rockfellow  gold  mine,  owned  by  Colonel 
Ruckel.  It  is  seven  miles  from  the  stage  road,  a  quartz  mine,  ex 
clusively  gold-bearing,  and  of  a  very  high  grade  of  fineness.  The 
product  coins  over  nineteen  dollars  per  ounce.  It  is  apparently  a 
very  rich  mine,  and,  so  far  as  indications  point,  of  probable  perma 
nency.  It  is  pretty  well  opened,  and  is  being  successfully  worked 
under  the  superintendence  of  Captain  Laban  Coffin,  an  old  Massa 
chusetts  skipper,  from  Nantucket,  I  believe ;  at  any  rate,  from  some 
bleak  country  down  that  way. 

Farther  on,  and  over  a  generally  barren  country,  we  cross  Snake 
River  at  Old's  Ferry, — the  proposed  starting  point  of  the  Oregon 
Steam  Navigation  Company's  new  line  of  steamers,  which  are  ex 
pected  to  ascend  the  river  from  there  two  hundred  miles, — and  are  in 
Idaho.  A  continued  ride  over  a  similarly  valueless  country,  spot 
ted  with  indifferent  ranches,  about  thickly  enough  for  stage  stations, 
and  we  reach  Boise  City.  Time  from  *W alia  Walla,  two  and  a  half 
days ;  fare,  sixty  dollars,  coin,  except  upon  "opposition  days,"  when 
it  is  forty  dollars. 

Here  ends  the  Thomas  &  Ruckel  Stage  Line.  The  proprietors 
are  characters  and  powers  in  this  country.  George  F.  Thomas  is 
of  Irish  extraction,  if  not  of  birth.  He  may  not  know  whether  the 
latter  or  not ;  certainly  he  doesn't  care.  Formerly  he  was  a  knight 
of  the  whip  in  Georgia.  Drifting  to  California,  with  the  early  adven 
turers  to  that  country,  after  the  discovery  of  gold,  he  became  a  large 
stockholder  in  the  California  Stage  Company,  and  was  for  some 
years  its  Vice-President.  In  that  capacity  he  established  the  line 
from  Sacramento  to  Portland  in  Oregon,  residing  in  the  latter  State 
the  while.  Upon  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Idaho  in  1862,  he  sold 
his  interest  and  resigned  his  position  in  the  California  Company, 
and  removed  to  Walla  Walla,  from  whence  he  ran  stages,  as  the 
constantly  shifting  tide  of  mining  travel  demanded.  Afterwards, 
Colonel  Ruckel  joining  him,  they  extended  their  line  to  Boise  City, 
constructing,  at  a  heavy  outlay,  the  Blue  Mountain  road.  He  is  a 


422  ACROSS   THE   CONTINENT. 

sensible,  whole-souled,  hospitable  "  Irish  gentleman,"  fond  of  a  quiet 
glass,  a  good  story  or  joke,  and  said  to  be  the  best  judge  of  the  horse 
on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Colonel  J.  S.  Ruckel  went  early  from  New 
York  to  California,  and  thence  to  Oregon,  without  means,  but  with 
great  resources  in  business  ability  and  energy.  Alone,  unaided,  he 
constructed  the  first  railroad  in  the  Territory,  along  the  Cascades, 
and  built  the  "Mountain  Buck,"  which  was  among  the  first  steamers 
to  navigate  the  waters  of  the  Columbia.  Afterwards  he  merged  rail 
road  and  steamboat  in  the  Oregon  Steam  Navigation  Company,  a 
corporate  body  with  two  millions  capital  stock,  and  owning  all  the 
steamers  and  controlling  all  the  business  of  the  Columbia  River. 
He  became  a  prominent  member  of  the  company,  for  some  time  its 
Superintendent,  and  lastly  its  President.  He  has  now  left  it,  how 
ever,  and  is  devoting  his  wealth  and  energy  to  mining  and  staging. 

Idaho  Territory  has  an  area  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou 
sand  square  miles,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north  and  east  by  British 
Columbia  and  Montana,  south  by  Utah  and  Nevada,  and  west  by 
Oregon  and  Washington.  Idaho  is  an  Indian  word,  signifying  "the 
gem  of  the  mountains."  It  was  chosen  by  the  early  gold  hunters  as 
an  appropriate  name  for  the  embryo  State  in  the  mountains,  then  ex 
tending  both  sides  of  the  Rocky  range.  But  a  comparatively  small 
portion  of  its  vast  surface  is  susceptible  of  tillage,  and  mining  must 
ever  continue  its  principal  interest.  The  population  of  the  Territory 
is  now  probably  about  twenty-five  thousand.  It  has  been  more ;  but 
as  the  richest  placer  diggings  are  exhausted,  other  and  richer  localities 
are  sought.  About  half  of  this  population  has  been  contributed  by 
Oregon ;  the  remaining  half  must  be  about  equally  divided  between 
California  and  Nevada,  and  the  States  east  of  the  mountains.  In  the 
mountains  a  great  depth  of  snow  falls  in  the  winter ;  but  the  climate 
is  milder  than  in  like  latitudes  and  altitudes  on  the  Atlantic  side. 

Boise  City,  the  capital  of  the  Territory,  is,  for  a  mining  region,  a 
substantial,  steady-going  little  town.  It  contains  some  ten  or  twelve 
hundred  inhabitants,  comprising  a  number  of  families,  and  affording 
tolerable  society.  It  is  the  depot  for  all  the  mining  region  so  far 
discovered  in  southern  Idaho.  Here  are  some  large  stocks  of  min 
ing  goods,  and  here,  and  through  here,  all  the  mining  towns  and 
camps  obtain  or  receive  their  supplies.  There  are  no  mines  imme 
diately  about  the  town,  nor,  indeed,  nearer  than  twenty-five  miles. 
It  is  located  upon  the  west  bank  of  the  Boise  River,  a  moderate 
stream  which  marks  a  fertile  but  narrow  valley,  in  which  nearly  all 
the  grain  and  vegetables,  thus  far  raised  in  southern  Idaho,  are  pro- 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  IDAHO.      423 

duced.  This  product,  however,  does  comparatively  little  towards 
supplying  the  miners.  The  bulk  comes  from  Oregon,  with  an  oc 
casional  venture  of  salt  and  vegetables  from  Utah. 

Idaho  City  is  some  thirty-five  miles  north  of  Boise  City,  and  you  are 
taken  there  in  the  stages  of  Henry  Greathouse,  a  brother  of  Kidgley 
Greathouse,  who  was  convicted  at  San  Francisco  of  attempting  to  fit 
out  a  pirate  vessel,  discharged  under  the  amnesty  proclamation  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  afterwards  re-arrested,  taken  to  New  York  and  confined 
in  Fort  Lafayette,  from  which  he  made  his  escape  and  fled  to  Europe, 
where  he  now  is.  His  brother,  Henry,  is  understood  to  hold  southern 
sympathies,  but  never  talks  of  public  affairs.  He  is  a  quiet,  hard 
working  man,  drives  a  coach  himself,  when  necessary,  and  has  ac 
cumulated  a  good  deal  of  money.  The  town  is  situated  in  what  is 
termed  the  "  Boise  Basin,"  between  Moore  and  Elk  Creeks,  branches 
of  Boise  River,  and  is  the  largest  town  in  the  Territory.  It  is  in  the 
midst  of  an  important  placer  district,  and  contains  from  five  to  seven 
thousand  inhabitants,  on  week  days,  and  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand 
on  Sundays.  For  Sunday  is  a  populous  and  profitable  day  with  a 
mining  town.  On  that  day  all  the  miners  for  miles  around  visit  the 
town  to  purchase  supplies,  exchange  greetings,  gamble,  guzzle,  and 
indulge  in  the  dissipations  of  mining  metropolitan  life.  Idaho  City, 
seen  on  Sunday,  is  a  very  different  town  from  the  Idaho  City  of 
any  other  day.  There  is  no  store,  shop  or  business  place  of  any 
character  closed  on  that  day.  It  is  altogether  the  busiest  of  the 
week  with  shopkeepers,  victualers,  gamblers  and  whiskey  dispensers. 

Idaho  City  is  built  in  and  over  the  mines,  and  one-third  or  one- 
half  of  the  buildings  in  the  place  have  been  already  mined  under; 
nearly  all  undoubtedly  will  be.  In  a  mining  country  the  miner  is 
king,  and  his  will  is  the  law.  If  he  finds  "  pay  dirt "  under  a  house, 
he  ^ocates  and  records  his  claim,  and  commences  to  undermine  it, 
without  saying  "by  your  leave"  to  owner  or  occupant.  Of  course, 
as  he  digs,  he  props  up  the  building  so  that  it  may  not  fall  upon  his 
head ;  that  secure,  he  troubles  himself  no  further.  When  a  claim 
is  worked  out,  he  leaves  it  without  filling  under  or  further  propping 
up  the  house.  If  it  falls,  it  concerns  not  him.  The  city  or  territo 
rial  authorities  have  enacted  laws  forbidding  the  undermining  of 
buildings  without  making  them  permanently  secure  from  fall.  But 
the  miners  elect  the  officers  and  compose  the  juries  that  administer 
the  law ;  it  is  unnecessary  to  add,  the  miner  wins  the  suit.  Several 
have  been  commenced  and  prosecuted,  but  with  no  other  result. 
The  same  is  the  case  with  regard  to  the  streets ;  where  the  miner's 


424  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

claim  leads  across,  up  or  down  one,  across,  up  or  down  he  goes, 
wherever  "pay  dirt"  points,  and  the  public  can  repair  or  abandon 
the  road,  as  they  find  most  convenient  or  profitable. 

About  two  months  prior  to  our  visit,  Idaho  City  had  been  almost 
entirely  destroyed  by  fire,  occasioning  an  estimated  loss  of  one  mil 
lion  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Already  the  town  had  been  re 
built  with  a  better  class  of  wood  buildings  than  before,  interspersed 
with  a  number  of  brick  blocks.  The  recuperative  energies  of  a 
flourishing  mining  town  are  extraordinary. 

The  "  Boise  Basin,"  as  it  is  called,  is  a  sink  or  depression  in  the 
mountains;  higher  mountains  surrounding  constitute  the  basin's 
"rim."  I  do  not  know  the  extent  of  the  basin,  but  should  think  it 
to  be  from  thirty  to  forty  miles  in  length,  and  perhaps  a  little  less  in 
width.  Over  this  are  scattered  placer  mines  of  varying  extent  and 
richness,  the  most  important  of  which  are  those  in  the  vicinity  of 
Idaho  City.  There  are,  however,  other  placers  and  other  towns 
of  consequence,  not  far  distant,  in  the  surrounding  country.  One 
of  the  latter  bears  the  euphonious  name  of  "Hog  'em,"  said  to  have 
been  derived  from  the  swinish  propensities  of  its  early  proprietor. 

These  placer  mines  are  of  considerable  extent,  and  more  than  fair 
productiveness.  They  are  of  three  classes :  the  first  and  richest 
being  the  "Creek  diggings,"  comprising  the  bed  of  the  creek  and 
its  low  banks ;  the  next  and  less  productive,  though  yielding  from 
ten  dollars  to  fifteen  dollars  per  day  to  each  miner  when  supplied 
with  water,  includes  the  higher  bank ;  the  third  consists  of  hill  dig 
gings  beyond,  still  poorer,  but  paying  for  working  when  water  can 
be  had.  The  Creek  diggings,  best  and  longest  supplied  with  water, 
have  been  generally  worked  out,  and,  of  course,  with  them  has  gone 
the  cream  of  the  mines.  An  unusual  rise  of  Moore  and  Elk  Creeks 
last  spring  brought  down  the  " tailings"  from  the  mountains,  and 
buried  the  claims  below  ten  or  twelve  feet  deep,  and  all  summer  the 
miner  has  been  compelled  to  "strip"  this  surface  off  before  being 
able  to  work  his  claim.  The  bench  and  hill  diggings,  with  here  and 
there  the  exception  of  a  gulch,  down  which  the  melting  snows  have 
poured  torrents,  remain  generally  undisturbed.  They  depend  mainly 
upon  the  melting  snows  and  spring  rise  for  water.  The  consequence 
is,  the  mining  season  for  anything  but  Creek  diggings  is  short,  not 
exceeding  two  or  three  months  of  each  year. 

We  were  in  the  Basin  in  the  month  of  September,  the  dull  season. 
Probably  at  that  time  ten  thousand  persons  were  employed  in  placer 
mining.  In  the  spring  the  number  has  heretofore  been  larger,  and 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  IDAHO.     42$ 

will  again  be,  if  other  excitements  and  discoveries  do  not  further 
draw  off  the  population.  Already,  it  was  said  two  thousand  persons 
had  left  for  the  Blackfeet  Mines,  and  if  the  reports  of  rich  discoveries 
there  were  confirmed,  a  stampede  in  the  spring  was  predicted. 

I  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  accurately  the  product  of  the 
Idaho  gold  mines.  The  known  amount  deposited  for  coinage  in 
the  San  Francisco  mint  for  the  year  ending  December,  1864,  was 
reported  at  three  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  and  San 
Francisco  estimate  placed  the  total  amount  for  that  year  at  six  mil 
lion  dollars.  That  is  probably  not  above  the  actual  product.  But 
mining  there  is,  as  everywhere  else,  a  precarious  business ,  a  life  of 
excitement,  and  not  seldom  non-success.  A  few  acquire  sudden 
riches ;  the  many  make  a  living. 

In  and  around  the  Boise  Basin  are  many  gold-bearing  quartz 
leads,  some  thought  to  be  rich  and  extensive,  but  few,  if  any,  yet  fully 
proved  to  be  so.  Several  mills  are  at  work  upon  some  of  them,  but 
none  that  we  saw  are  so  far  developed  as  to  satisfactorily  demonstrate 
their  richness.  Among  the  apparently  promising  leads  we  visited 
were  three  lying  near  together  in  the  Summit  Flat  District,  distant 
some  fifteen  or  eighteen  miles  from  Idaho  City.  They  are  called 
the  '  Mammoth,"  "King,"  and  "Specimen"  Ledges,  and  are  owned 
by  Messrs.  Jackson,  Humason  and  Bibb.  They  are  gold  mines  only, 
and  not  extensively  developed ;  yet  reasonably  promising  so  far  as 
they  have  been  worked.  There  has  been  an  eight-stamp  water-mill 
running  upon  the  ore  of  one  of  them  for  a  year,  and,  from  the  pro 
ceeds  of  it,  they  had  purchased  and  were  erecting  a  ten-stamp  steam- 
mill,  expecting  to  have  it  running  by  the  beginning  of  winter.  They 
were  without  capital,  except  as  they  dug  it  from  the  mine,  and  were 
therefore  compelled  to  work  slowly.  The  country  about  the  Flat  is 
liberally  supplied  with  water  and  timber,  which  makes  working  the 
mines  easier  and  cheaper. 

South  Boise,  distant  about  sixty  miles,  is  a  more  recent  discovery, 
and  is  thought  to  be  richer  in  quartz  than  the  Basin.  The  discov 
eries  there  are  mostly  silver. 

The  Owyhee  mines  are  situated  in  the  mountains  of  that  name, 
about  sixty  miles  south  of  Boise  City,  to  reach  which  you  are  com 
pelled  to  pass  over  the  worst  alkali  road  in  Idaho.  There  is  a  line 
of  stages  running  there  from  Boise  City.  We  found  two  little  towns, 
Ruby  and  Silver  Cities,  extending  more  than  a  mile  along  the  nar 
row  gulch  in  which  are  limited  placer  mines.  The  Owyhee  mines 
are  almost  wholly  silver-producing,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt 


426  ACROSS   THE   CONTINENT. 

that  the  district  is,  as  a  whole,  rich  in  this  metal.  There  are  some 
valuable  ledges  there,  and  many  worthless  ones ;  some  honest  and 
some  bogus,  wild-cat  companies.  The  only  mine  which  has  been 
fully  proven  rich  is  the  "Oro  Fino,"  and,  perhaps,  the  "Morning 
Star,"  owned  by  Moore  &  Fogus.  Upon  the  first  ledge  they  have 
excavated  a  tunnel  six  hundred  feet  long,  and  sunk  a  connecting 
shaft,  also  upon  the  ledge,  over  one  hundred  feet.  All  the  way  they 
find  it  rich  and  wide,  and  improving  in  both  respects  as  they  go  in 
and  down.  On  the  "Morning  Star,"  they  have  sunk  a  shaft  about 
one  hundred  feet,  and  thus  far  find  the  ledge  yielding  well. 

There  are  doubtless  many  other  valuable  ledges  there,  but  none 
have  been  so  fully  tested.  Some  New  York  companies  are  putting 
up  large  mills,  and  twenty  or  thirty  are  on  the  way.  Some  ledges, 
little  prospected,  may  prove  rich.  Others,  doubtless,  will  be  found 
worthless.  Some  interests,  valuable  and  valueless,  are  claimed  by 
those  who  have  failed  to  comply  with  the  mining  laws  of  the  Terri 
tory,  and  consequently  they  have  no  title.  Many  were  talking  about 
going  East  to  sell  their  mines,  and,  if  they  can  raise  the  passage 
money,  a  goodly  number  will  be  in  the  eastern  cities  before  long, 
with  Idaho  mines  and  mining  stock  for  sale.  Some  of  this  species  of 
property  will  be  genuine ;  much  of  it  will  possess  no  known  or  prob 
able  value.  Purchasers  should  be  well  assured  of  the  standing  and 
repute  of  parties  with  whom  they  deal  and  upon  whose  representa 
tions  they  rely.  If  not,  they  had  better  personally  inspect,  or  employ 
some  reliable  agent  to  do  so,  before  they  purchase  mining  property. 

The  Owyhee  district  is  sparsely  supplied  with  wood,  and  water  is  not 
abundant.  There  will  be  fuel  enough  for  some  years,  but  if  the  district 
proves  as  rich  as  it  is  expected  to,  it  must  become  exhausted  at  no  very 
distant  period.  Probably  before  that  time  coal  will  be  discovered. 

Illustrative  of  mining  life  are  the  experiences  and  conditions  of 
some  acquaintances  I  found  in  Idaho.  One  was  an  excellent  gen 
tleman,  a  lawyer  of  learning  and  ability,  who  once  held  an  impor 
tant  appointment  connected  with  the  United  States  courts  of  one  of 
the  Pacific  States.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  son  of  a  wealthy 
Bostonian,  who  desires  him  to  travel.  In  pursuance  of  such  re 
quest,  accompanied  with  unlimited  letters  of  credit,  he  spent  last 
fall  and  winter  at  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Now  he  was  in  the  Boise 
Mines,  in  miner's  garb,  with  pick  and  shovel,  hard  at  work  upon  a 
not  over-remunerative  claim.  f 

Another  acquaintance  had,  in  years  agone,  fallen  heir  to  a  saw 
mill  in  California,  by  the  death  of  a  brother.  The  mill  soon  in- 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  IDAHO.     427 

volved  him  beyond  his  ability  to  pay,  and  was  sold,  leaving  him  in 
debt.  He  remained  in  that  unpleasant  condition  until  the  spring 
of  1863,  when,  with  a  small  steam  saw-mill  that  he  could  have  al 
most  packed  upon  a  wagon,  he  went  to  Idaho  City.  I  met  him  last 
month,  just  on  the  eve  of  leaving  for  the  Atlantic  States  with  fifty- 
five  thousand  dollars  in  gold. 

A  third  I  had  known  in  early  times  on  the  Pacific  Coast  as  a  man 
of  wealth.  In  dissipation  he  had  squandered  the  most  of  it.  Go 
ing  early  to  Boise  \e  soon  made  another  "raise,"  and  was  worth 
forty  or  fifty  thousand  dollars  n  gold.  Now  he  was  "flat  broke." 
Cards,  whiskey  and  women  were  the  rocks  upon  which  he  had  a 
second  time  wrecked.  The  son  of  a  New  England  deacon,  and 
graduate  of  a  New  England  orthodox  Sabbath  school,  was  keeping 
a  stylish  drinking  saloon,  and  living  with  a  commercial  miss,  with 
whom,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  clergymen  or  other  persons  quali 
fied  to  perform  the  service,  he  had  never  married.  When  I  meet 
his  relatives  they  always  inquire  after  his  welfare,  and,  anxiously, 
if  "he  continues  to  love  the  Lord  and  grow  in  grace." 

A  leading  clergyman  of  a  popular  denomination  built  a  church 
at  Idaho  City,  and  occasionally  preached  in  it  on  Sunday ;  and  be 
ing  engaged  in  merchandising,  it  was  said  his  clerks  kept  his  store 
open,  the  while.  At  the  time  we  were  there,  preaching  had  been 
suspended  and  the  church  rented  to  the  United  States  for  a  court 
room;  and  the  only  time  we  visited  it,  Chief  Justice  McBride  was 
trying  a  murderer  therein. 

Captain  Fiske  relates  finding  in  Idaho  a  Mr.  Murphy,  who  en 
deavored  to  sell  him  a  mine  he  owned  for  twelve  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars.  Captain  Fiske  declined  to  buy,  and,  a  few  months 
after,  Murphy  sold  the  property  to  New  York  capitalists  for  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  A  few  weeks  before  I 
was  at  Owyhee,  an  acquaintance,  in  company  with  another,  discov 
ered  a  silver  lead.  He  sold  his  half  for  eleven  hundred  dollars. 
While  we  were  there,  one-fifth  of  the  same  half  was  sold  for  thirty 
thousand  dollars,  gold.  A  friend  who,  burnt  out  by  fire  and  washed 
out  by  flood,  became  bankrupt  in  the  Willamette  Valley,  went  to 
Boise  in  1862  or  '63.  Now  he  is  joint  owner  in  four  stores  and 
stocks  of  goods,  a  fast  freight  and  passenger  stage  line  near  four 
hundred  miles  long,  a  large  hotel,  and  much  other  property.  A 
good  many  others,  who  went  there  in  indigent  circumstances,  I  also 
found  had  "held  their  own"  remarkably. 

The  stage  line  from  Boise  City  to  Salt  Lake,  three  hundred  and 


428  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

seventy  miles, — fare  one  hundred  dollars,  gold, — is  owned  by  Ben 
Holladay.  It  traverses  a  barren  country,  covered  with  the  inter 
minable  sage,  and  inhabited  only  by  coyotes  and  wolves.  We  pass 
within  two  miles  of  the  celebrated  and  not  long  ago  discovered 
Falls  of  Snake  River,  greater  than  those  of  Niagara,  but  could  not 
visit  them  without  remaining  over  a  day,  and  running  the  risk  of 
finding  a  crowded  coach  on  the  morrow.  Unless  I  shall  some  time 
chance  to  pass  that  way  again,  I  shall  never  cease  to  regret  that  we 
did  not  remain  and  visit  that  world-wonder.  A  little  farther  on,  at 
the  last  crossing  of  the  south  fork  of  the  Columbia,  we  found  quite  a 
large  river  abruptly  bursting  from  out  a  mountain  side.  It  ran,  cold 
and  clear,  a  short  distance,  and  added  its  waters  to  those  of  the  Snake. 

The  Boise  end  of  this  road  has  sometimes  been  visited  by  "road 
agents,"  as  highwaymen  are  called  in  the  mines.  They  infest  all  the 
roads  leading  from  Boise.  The  day  before  we  left  Boise  City,  the 
stage-coach  was  robbed  by  them.  Among  the  passengers  was  a 
miner  with  eight  thousand  dollars  in  gold,  the  savings  of  two  years' 
labor  in  the  mines.  He  had  been  in  town  several  days,  inquiring 
whether  it  was  safest  to  go  to  the  States  by  way  of  Walla  Walla  or 
Salt  Lake.  Probably  his  inquiries  led  to  the  robbery  of  that  par 
ticular  coach  by  some  villains  of  the  town.  They  usually  go  in 
parties  of  about  a  half  dozen,  disguised  and  armed  with  double- 
barreled  shot-guns,  and,  springing  suddenly  from  an  ambush,  rarely 
fail  to  succeed  in  stopping  the  coach  and  robbing  the  passengers. 
If  resistance  is  not  made,  they  do  not  usually  add  murder  to  their 
crime.  When  their  depredations  become  frequent,  the  community 
generally  rise  and  hunt  them  like  wolves,  shooting  and  hanging  them 
wherever  found.  Order  then  succeeds,  as  long  as  the  fright  con 
tinues.  These  depredations  become  every  year  less  frequent,  and 
the  danger  is  not  now  considered  great. 

These  vast  sage  plains !  Is  it  not  possible  that  sometime  in  the 
ages  to  come,  as  soon,  perhaps,  as  they  will  be  required  for  settle 
ment,  timber  may  cover  them,  rains  and  rivers  follow,  and  popula 
tion  swarm  ? 

At  Bear  River  we  paid  for  our  breakfast  in  greenbacks,  being  the 
first  place  at  which  we  found  them  circulating  as  currency.  Here 
the  stage  line  merges  with  Holladay's  line  from  the  mining  regions 
of  Montana,  and  continues  eighty  miles  to  Salt  Lake.  A  short  dis 
tance  brought  us  into  prosperous  Mormon  settlements,  through 
which  we  continued  to  pass  until  night  rolled  us  into  this  chief  city 
of  the  "Latter-Day  Saints." 


V. 

THE    YOSEMITE    VALLEY. 


ITS  MARVELS  AND  ITS  BEAUTIES  SCIENTIFICALLY 
DESCRIBED. 

From  PROFESSOR  J.  D.  WHITNEY'S  Geological  Reports — Volume  IT. 

THE  Yosemite  Valley  is  situated  on  the  Merced  River.  It  is 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  in  a  direction  a  little  south  of 
east  from  San  Francisco.  It  is  nearly  in  the-  center  of  the  State, 
north  and  south,  and  exactly  midway  between  the  east  and  west 
bases  of  the  Sierra,  here  about  seventy  miles  wide. 

The  valley  is  a  nearly  level  area,  about  eight  miles  in  length  and 
varying  from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile  in  width.  For  the  lower  six  miles 
its  course  is  from  north-east  to  south-west ;  the  upper  two  miles  are 
nearly  at  right-angles  to  this,  the  angle  of  the  bend  being  at  the  spot 
where  the  Yosemite  Fall  comes  over  the  precipice  on  the  north  side. 
Below  the  expanded  portion  of  the  valley,  the  Merced  enters  a  ter 
ribly  deep  and  narrow  canyon,  which  is  said  to  be  inaccessible,  and 
which  we  had  no  time  to  explore. 

The  peculiar  features  of  the  Yosemite  are:  first,  the  near  ap 
proach  to  verticality  of  its  walls ;  next,  their  great  night,  not  only 
absolutely,  but  as  compared  with  the  width  of  the  valley  itself;  and, 
finally,  the  very  small  amount  of  debris,  or  talus,  at  the  bottom  of 
these' gigantic  cliffs.  These  are  the  great  characteristics  of  the  val 
ley  throughout  its  whole  length ;  but  besides  these,  there  are  many 
other  striking  peculiarities,  and  features  both  of  sublimity  and 
beauty  which  can  hardly  be  surpassed,  if  equalled,  by  those  of  any 
mountain  scenery  in  the  world. 

Tutucanula  (Great  Jehovah,)  or  El  Capitan,  is  an  almost  vertical 
cliff  of  naked,  smooth  granite.  From  its  edge  down  to  the  valley 
below  is  about  three  thousand  three  hundred  feet ;  it  is  usually 
called  three  thousand  six  hundred  feet,  which  may  be  the  extreme 
hight  of  its  slightly  rounded  summit.  It  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
grandest  objects  in  the  Yosemite,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find 
anywhere  in  the  world  a  mass  of  rock  presenting  a  perpendicular 
face  so  imposing  and  elevated.  The  pile  of  debris  at  its  base  is  so 
insignificant  in  dimensions,  compared  with  the  cliff  itself,  that  it  is 


430  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

hardly  noticed  at  all  from  some  points,  in  a  general  view  of  the  val 
ley,  and  this  is  one  of  the  most  striking  and  unique  features  of  the 
scene,  for  it  is  a  condition  of  things  of  the  rarest  possible  occur 
rence.  We  know  of  nothing  like  it  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

The  Bridal  Veil  Fall,  of  which  the  Indian  name  is  "Pohono,"  is 
about  one  thousand  feet  in  hight,  and,  during  the  season  when  the 
stream  is  fed  by  the  melting  snow  on  the  mountains  above,  it  is  a 
wonderfully  beautiful  object.  The  body  of  water  is  not  large,  but 
is  sufficient  to  produce  the  most  picturesque  effect.  As  it  is  swayed 
backwards  and  forwards  by  the  varying  force  of  the  wind,  i&is  con 
tinually  altering  its  form,  so  that  it  seems,  especially  as  seen  from  a 
distance,  to  flutter  like  a  white  veil ;  hence  the  name,  which  is  both 
appropriate  and  poetical. 

Proceeding  up  the  valley,  we  find,  a  little  above  the  Bridal  Veil 
Fall,  and  on  the  same  side,  the  prominent  and  massively  sculptured 
pile  to  which  the  name  of  Cathedral  Rock  is  given.  It  was  not 
measured  by  us,  but  it  appears  to  be  about  three  thousand  feet  in 
hight.  Behind  this  are  the  "Cathedral  Spires,"  two  slender  and 
beautiful  columns  of  granite,  on  the  same  gigantic  scale  as  every 
thing  else  in  this  region,  and  which  here  are  passed  almost  unno 
ticed,  although,  by  themselves,  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  they 
would  be  considered  objects  of  the  greatest  interest. 

A  couple  of  miles  farther  up  the  valley,  and  on  the  other  side,  is 
the  next  cluster  of  peaks,  a  triple  row  of  summits  rising  in  steps  one 
above  the  other;  these  are  called  the  "Three  Brothers."  From  the 
highest  of  these,  nearly  four  thousand  feet  above  the  valley,  there  is 
the  finest  view  which  can  be  had  of  the  Yosemite  itself  and  the 
whole  surrounding  region  up  to  the  crest  of  the  Sierra. 

Opposite  the  Three  Brothers  is  a  prominen^  point,  which  stands 
out  near  the  angle  where  the  valley  makes  its  most  distinct  turn,  and 
which,  from  its  fancied  likeness  to  a  gigantic  watch-tower,  is  called 
"Sentinel  Rock."  As  seen  from  the  south-west,  it  is  a  group  of 
cliffs,  of  which  the  outside  one  has  quite  the  form  of  an  obelisk, 
very  regular  and  beautiful,  for  at  least  a  thousand  feet  down.  The 
entire  hight  of  the  Sentinel  above  its  base  is  a  little*  over  three 
thousand  feet. 

Three-quarters  of  a  mile  south-east  of  the  Sentinel  is  the  Dome 
of  the  same  name,  four  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high, 
and  one  of  the  most  perfect  of  the  dome-shaped  masses  of  granite 
so  peculiar  to  the  Sierra  Nevada.  Its  horizontal  section  is  nearly 
circular,  and  its  slope  very  regular  and  uniform  on  all  sides.  From 
its  summit  the  view  is,  of  course,  extremely  grand ;  it  is  especially 
fine  in  the  direction  of  the  Obelisk  Group  of  mountains,  and  it  com 
mands  the  canyon  of  the  south  fork  of  the  Merced, — "Illilouette," 
as  it  is  called  by  the  Indians.  From  this  point  the  glacial  phenom 
ena,  and  especially  the  regular  and  extensive  moraines,  of  that  val 
ley  are  finely  displayed.  The  profile  of  the  Half  Dome  is  best  seen 
from  the  Sentinel  Dome. 

From  near  the  foot  of  Sentinel  Rock,  looking  directly  across  the 
valley,  we  have  before  us,  if  not  the  most  stupendous  feature  of  the 
Yosemite,  at  least  the  most  attractive  one,  namely,  the  Yosemite 
Fall.  About  the  time  of  full  moon,  and  in  the  month  of  May,  June, 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  THE  YOSEMITE.  43! 

or  July,  according  to  the  dryness  and  forwardness  of  the  season,  is 
the  ti.ne  to  visit  the  Yosemite,  and  to  enjoy  in  their  perfection  the 
glories  of  its  numerous  water-falls.  Those  who  go  later,  after  the 
snow  has  nearly  gone  from  the  mountains,  see  the  streams  dimin 
ished  to  mere  rivulets  and  threads  of  water ;  they  feel  satisfied  with 
the  other  attractions  of  the  valley,  its  stupendous  cliffs^  domes  and 
canyons,  and  think  that  the  water-falls  are  of  secondary  importance, 
and  that  they  have  lost  little  by  delaying  the  time  of  their  visit. 
This  is  not  so ;  the  traveler,  who  has  not  seen  the  Yosemite  when 
its  streams  are  full  of  water,  has  lost,  if  not  the  greater  part>  at 
least  a  large  portion,  of  the  attractions  of  the  region,  for  so  great 
a  variety  of  cascades  and  falls  as  those  which  leap  into  this  valley 
from  all  sides  has,  as  we  may  confidently  assert,  never  been  seen 
elsewhere, — both  the  Bridal  Veil  and  the  Nevada  Fall  being  unsur 
passed  in  some  respects,  while  the  Yosemite  Fall  is  beyond  anything 
known  to  exist,  whether  we  consider  its  hight  or  the  stupendous  char 
acter  of  the  surrounding  scenery. 

The  Yosemite  Fall  is  formed  by  a  creek  of  the  sa^me  name,  which 
heads  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mount  Hoffman  Group,  about  twenty 
miles  north  of  the  valley.  The  volume  of  water  varies,  of  course, 
with  the  season;  at  the  ordinary  stage  of  summer,  through  the 
months  of  June  and  July,  it  is  about  twenty  feet  wide  and  two  feet 
deep,  on  the  average.  From  the  edge  of  the  cliff  over  which  it  is 
precipitated  to  the  bottom  of  the  valley,  the  perpendicular  distance 
is,  in  round  numbers,  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Pro 
fessor  Brewer's  measurement  gave  two  thousand  six  hundred  and 
forty-one,  and  that  of  Mr.  King  two  thousand  five  hundred  and 
thirty-seven,  the  difference  being  due  to  the  circumstance  that  the 
lip  or  edge  is  a  gradual  curve,  and  so  highly  polished  that  a  near 
approach  to,  or  a  precise  definition  of,  the  place  where  the  perpen 
dicular  portion  of  the  fall  commences  is  impossible. 

The  fall  is  not  in  one  perpendicular  sheet.  There  is  first  a  verti 
cal  descent  of  fifteen  hundred  feet,  where  the  water  strikes  on  what 
seems  to  be  a  projecting  ledge ;  but  which  in  reality  is  a  shelf  or 
recess,  almost  a  third  of  a  mile  back  from  the  front  of  the  lower 
portion  of  the  cliff.  From  here  the  stream  finds  its  way  in  a  series 
of  cascades  down  a  descent  equal  to  six  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet 
perpendicular,  and  then  gives  one  final  plunge  of  about  four  hun 
dred  feet  on  to  a  low  talus  of  rocks  at  the  base  of  the  precipice. 
As  thesp  various  falls  are  in  one  vertical  plane,  the  effect  of  the 
whole  from  the  other  side  of  the  valley  is  nearly  as  grand,  and  per 
haps  even  more  picturesque,  than  it  would  be  if  the  descent  was 
made  in  one  sheet  from  the  top  of  the  cliff  to  the  bottom.  The 
.  mass  of  water  in  the  fifteen  hundred  foot  fall  is  too  great  to  allow  of 
its  being  entirely  broken  up  into  spray,  but  it  widens  very  much  as 
it  descends,  and  as  the  sheet  vibrates  backwards  and  forwards  with 
the  varying  pressure  of  the  wind,  which  acts  with  immense  force  on 
this  long  column  of  water,  the  effect  is  indescribably  grand,  espe 
cially  under  the  magical  illumination  of  the  full  moon.  The  cliff  a 
little  east  of  the  edge  of  the  Yosemite  Fall  rises  in  a  bold  peak  to 
the  hight  of  three  thousand  and  thirty  feet  above  the  valley ;  it  can 
be  reached  through  Indian  Canyon,  a  little  farther  east,  and  from 


432  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

here  a  magnificent  view  of  the  whole  region  may  be  obtained.  The 
ascent  to  the  summit  of  the  upper  fall  and  the  return  to  the  valley 
may  be  made  in  one  day,  but  only  by  good  mountain-climbers. 

About  two  miles  farther  up  from^he  falls  just  noticed,  the  main 
valley  of  the  Yosemite  comes  to  an  end,  and  runs  out  into  three  dis 
tinct  canyons,  each  of  which,  however,  has  new  wonders  to  disclose. 
The  Merced  River  keeps  the  middle  one  of  these,  and  its  course 
here  is  about  the  same  that  it  was  below,  or  nearly  west  In  the 
left-hand,  or  north-westerly  canyon,  the  Tenaya  Fork  comes  down ;  in 
the  right-hand  one,  the  south  fork  or  the  Illilouette.  Following  up 
the  Tenaya  Fork,  we  have  on  the  right  hand,  just  at  the  entrance  of 
the  canyon,  that  grandest  and  loftiest  mass  of  the  Yosemite  Valley, 
called  the  Half  Dome.  This  has  been  in  sight,  however,  through 
all  the  upper  part  of  the  valley,  above  the  Yosemite  Falls,  and  is  a 
conspicuous  point  from  all  the  region  around.  It  is  an  inaccessible 
crest  of  granite,  rising  to  the  hight  of  four  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  thirty-seven  feet*  above  the  valley,  the  face  fronting  towards 
Tenaya  Creek  being  absolutely  vertical  for  two  thousand  feet  down 
from  the  summit.  The  whole  appearance  of  the  mass  is  that  of  an 
originally  dome-shaped  elevation,  with  an  exceedingly  steep  curve, 
of  which  the  western  half  has  been  split  off  and  has  become  en 
gulfed.  Hence  the  name,  which  is  one  that  seems  to  suggest  itself 
at  first  sight  of  this  truly  marvelous  crest  of  rock.  From  all  the 
upper  part  of  the  valley,  and  from  the  hights  about  it,  the  Half 
Dome  presents  an  aspect  of  the  most  imposing  grandeur ;  it  strikes 
even  the  most  casual  observer  as  a  new  revelation  in  mountain 
forms;  its  existence  would  be  considered  an  impossibility  if  it  were 
not  there  before  us  in  all  its  reality;  it  is  an  unique  thing  in  moun 
tain  scenery,  and  nothing  even  approaching  it  can  be  found  except 
in  the  Sierra  Nevada  itself. 

The  North  Dome,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley  of  Tenaya 
Creek,  is  another  of  these  rounded  masses  of  granite,  of  which  the 
concentric  structure,  is  very  marked.  It  is  three  thousand  five  hun 
dred  and  sixty-eight  feet  in  elevation  above  the  valley,  and  is  very 
easy  of  ascent  from  the  north  side.  At  the  angle  of  the  canyon,  ap 
pearing  as  a  buttress  of  the  North  Dome,  is  the  Washington  Col 
umn,  a  grand,  perpendicular  mass  of  granite,  and  by  its  side  the 
Royal  Arches,  an  immense  arched  cavity  formed  in  the  cliffs  by  the 
giving  way  and  sliding  down  of  portions  of  the  rock,  the  vaulted 
appearance  of  the  upper  part  of  it  producing  a  very  fine  effect. 

Farther  up  the  canyon  of  Tenaya  Creek  is  a  little  lake,  called  Tisa- 
yac;  it  is  surrounded  by  the  most  picturesque  cliffs,  having  the 
giant  Half  Dome  overhanging  its  eastern  side. 
^  The  canyon  of  the  Merced,  above  the  Yosemite  Valley  proper, 
rises  very  rapidly  for  the  distance  of  about  two  miles,  when  it  attains 
the  level  of  the  surrounding  plateau.  In  this  two  miles  the  river 
descends  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  making,  be 
sides  innumerable  cascades,  two  grand  falls,  which  are  among  the 

*  There  is  a  difference  of  one  thmisand  feet  in  two  scientific  measure 
ments  of  this  peak ;  one,  and  the  latest,  by  Professor  Brewer,  makes  its 
hight  nearly  six  THOUSAND yfo/  above  the  valley.  S.  B. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  THE  YOSEMITE.  433 

greater  attractions  of  the  Yosemite,  not  only  on  account  of  their 
night  and  the  large  body  of  water  in  the  river  during  the  early  part 
of  the  season,  but  also  because  of  the  stupendous  peaks  and  cliffs 
by  which  they  are  surrounded. 

The  first  fall  reached  in  ascending  the  canyon  is  the  Vernal,  or 
Piwyac.  It  is  a  simple  perpendicular  sheet,  four  hundred  and  seven 
ty-five  feet  in  hight,  as  nearly  as  we  could  determine,  the  blinding 
spray  at  the  bottom  rendering  exact  measurements  impossible.  The 
rock  behind  the  Vernal  Fall  is  a  perfectly  square  cut  mass  of  gran 
ite,  and  it  is  wonderful  to  see  how  little  any  eroding  effect  of  water 
can  be  traced  in  its  outline.  It  would  seem  as  if  causes  now  in  ac 
tion  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  formation  of  "this  step  in  the  descent 
of  the  Merced  down  to  the  valley  below. 

Ascending  to  the  summit  of  the  Vernal  Fall  by  a  series  of  lad 
ders,  and  proceeding  a  mile  farther  up  the  river,  passing  a  series  of 
rapids  and  cascades  of  great  beauty,  we  come  to  the  last  great  fall 
of  the  Merced,  namely,  the  Nevada,  or  the  "Yowiye,"  of  the  In 
dians.  The  total  descent,  from  the  edge  of  the  Nevada  Fall  to  that 
of  the  Vernal,  is  eight  hundred  and  ninety-four  feet ;  of  which  six 
hundred  and  thirty-nine,  as  near  as  we  could  determine,  is  in  one 
perpendicular  sheet.  The  Nevada  Fall,  however,  has  a  peculiar 
twist  in  it,  near  the  summit,  caused  by  the  mass  of  water  falling  on  a 
projecting  ledge,  which  throws  it  off  to  one  side,  adding  greatly  to 
the  picturesque  effect.  This  fall  is  certainly  to  be  ranked  as  one  of 
the  very  finest  cataracts  in  the  world,  taking  into  consideration  its 
hight,  the  volume  and  purity  of  the  water,  and  the  whole  character 
of  the  scenery  which  surrounds  it,  Mount/  Broderick  alone  being  an 
object  of  which  the  fame  would  be  spread  world-wide,  if  it  were  not 
placed  as  it  is,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  other  wonders  of  nature. 

There  are  also  grand  cascades  in  the  South  Fork  Canyon,  the 
scenery  through  the  whole  of  which  is  little  inferior  to  that  of  the 
other  portions  of  the  Yosemite ;  but,  amid  so  many  objects  of  at 
traction,  few  visitors  find  time  to  examine  this  canyon,  especially  as 
the  trail  by  which  it  is  reached  is  a  rough  and  difficult  one. 

In  the  angle  formed  by  the  Merced  and  the  South  Fork  Canyon, 
and  about  two  miles  south-southeast  of  Mount  Broderick,  is  the 
high  point,  called  the  "South  Dome,"  and  also,  of  later  years, 
"Mount  Starr  King."  This  is  the  most  symmetrical  and  beautiful 
of  all  the  dome-shaped  masses  around  the  Yosemite ;  but  it  is  not 
visible  from  the  valley  itself.  It  exhibits  the  concentric  structure 
of  the  granite  on  a  grand  scale ;  although  its  surface  is  generally 
smooth  and  unbroken.  Its  summit  is  absolutely  inaccessible. 

Having  thus  briefly  noticed  some  of  the  more  prominent  objects 
of  interest  about  the  Yosemite,  we  may  add  a  few  words  in  regard 
to  the  valley  itself.  This  is  an  almost  level  area,  the  fall  from  one 
end  to  the  other  of  the  valley  proper  being  only  about  fifty  feet. 
The  width  of  the  bottom-land,  between  the  slopes  of  debris  at  the 
base  of  the  cliffs,  is  only  about  half  a  mile ;  below  El  Capitan,  however, 
it  is  nearly  twice  as  much.  Its  smooth  surface  and  brilliant  color, 
diversified  as  it  is  with  groves  of  trees  and  carpeted  with  showy 
flowers,  offer  the  most  wonderful  contrast  to  the  towering  masses 
of  neutral  and  light  purple-tinted  rocks  by  which  it  is  surrounded. 
19  28 


434  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

Its  elevation  above  the  sea  is,  according  to  our  measurements,  four 
thousand  and  sixty  feet ;  and  the  cliffs  and  domes  about  it  are  from 
seven  thousand  to  nine  thousand  in  altitude  above  the  sea-level. 

All  will  recognize  in  the  Yosemite  Valley  a  peculiar  and  almost 
unique  type  of  scenery.  Cliffs  absolutely  vertical,  like  the  upper 
portions  of  the  Half  Dome  and  El  CapiUn,  and  of  such  immense 
nights  as  these,  are,  so  far  as  we  know,  to  be  seen  nowhere  else. 
The  dome  form  of  mountains  is  exhibited  on  a  grand  scale  in  other 
parts  of  the  Sierra  Nevada;  but  there  is  no  Half  Dome,  even 
among  the  stupendous  precipices  at  the  head  of  King's  River.  It  is 
natural  to  ask,  then,  how  these  vertical  cliffs  have  been  formed,  and  to 
what  geological  causes  does  the  Yosemite  Valley  owe  its  existence  ? 

Most  of  the  great  canyons  and  valleys  of  California  have  resulted 
from  denudation.  The  long-continued  action  of  the  tremendous  tor 
rents  of  water,  rushing  with  impetuous  velocity  down  the  slopes  of 
the  Sierra,  has  excavated  those  prodigious  gorges,  by  which  the  chain 
is  furrowed  to  the  depth  of  thousands  of  feet.  But  these  eroded 
canyons,  steep  as  they  may  be,  have  not  vertical  walls ;  neither  have 
their  sides  the  peculiar  angular  forms  which  the  mass  of  El  Capitan, 
for  instance,  has,  where  there  are  two  perpendicular  surfaces  of 
smooth  granite  meeting  at  right-angles,  and  each  over  three  thou 
sand  feet  high. 

Farther  investigations  are  needed  to  discuss  the  theory  of  the 
formation  of  the  valley  with  scientific  intelligibility;  but  it  may  now 
be  stated,  that  it  appears  to  us  probable  that  this  mighty  chasm  has 
been  roughly  hewn  into  its  present  form  by  the  same  kind  of  forces 
which  have  raised  the  crest  of  the  Sierra  and  moulded  the  surface  of 
the  mountains  into  something  like  their  present  shape.  The  domes, 
and  such  masses  as  that  of  Mount  Broderick,  we  conceive  to  have 
been  formed  by  the  process  of  upheaval  itself,  for  we  can  discover 
nothing  about  them  which  looks  like  the  result  of  ordinary  denuda 
tion.  The  Half  Dome  seems,  beyond  a  doubt,  to  have  been  split 
asunder  in  the  middle,  the  lost  half  having  gone  down  in  what  may 
truly  be  said  to  have  been  "the  wreck  of  matter  and  the  "crash  of 
worlds."  It  has  been  objected  to  this  view,  by  some  of  the  corps, 
that  the  bottom  of  the  valley,  in  places  where  an  engulfment  must, 
according  to  this  theory,  have  taken  place,  seems  to  be  of  solid 
granite,  when  there  should  be  an  unfathomable  chasm,  filled  now, 
of  course,  with  fragments,  and  not  occupied  by  a  solid  bed  of  rock. 
To  this  it  may  be  replied,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  masses  which 
have  been  engulfed  may  have  been  of  such  enormous  size  as  to  give 
the  impression,  where  they  are  only  imperfectly  exposed,  of  perfect 
continuity  and  connection  with  the  adjacent  cliffs.  But,  again,  this 
grand  cataclysm  may  have  taken  place  at  a  time  when  the  granitic 
mass  was  still  in  a  semi-plastic  condition  below,  although,  perhaps, 
quite  consolidated  at  the  surface  and  for  some  distance  down.  In 
this  case  it  is  not  impossible,  certainly,  that  the  pressure  from  above 
may  have  united  the  yielding  material  together,  so  that  all  traces  of 
the  fracture  would  be  lost,  except  in  that  portion  of  it  which  affected 
the  upper  crust.  If  the  bottom  of  the  Yosemite  did  "drop  out,"  to 
use  a  homely  but  expressive  phrase,  it  was  not  all  done  in  one  piece, 
or  with  one  movement ;  there  are  evidences  in  the  valley  of  fractures 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  THE  YOSEMITE.  435 

and  cross-fractures  at  right-angles  to  these,  and  the  different  seg 
ments  of  the  mass  must  have  been  of  quite  different  sizes,  and  may 
have  descended  to  unequal  depths. 

In  the  course  of  our  explorations,  we  obtained  ample  evidence  of 
the  former  existence  of  a  glacier  in  the  Yosemite  Valley,  and  the 
canyons  of  all  the  streams  entering  it  are  also  beautifully  polished 
and  grooved  by  glacial  action.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that 
the  mass  of  ice  ever  filled  the  Yosemite  to  the  upper  edge  of  the 
cliffs ;  but  one  of  our  corps  thinks  it  must  have  been  at  least  a  thou 
sand  feet  thick.  He  also  traced  out  four  ridges  in  the  valley  which 
he  considers  to  be,  without  a  doubt,  ancient  moraines.  One  of  these 
ridges  is  a  low  and  narrow  band  of  fragments  of  rock  and  rounded 
boulders,  extending  from  the  base  of  the  Half  Dome  in  a  curve 
down  the  valley,  and  up  again  to  the  debris  under  the  Washington 
Column.  This  seems  to  be  the  terminal  moraine  of  the  Tenaya 
Creek  glacier. 

A  well-defined  medial  moraine  extends  from  the  foot  of  the  west 
ern  end  of  the  Half  Dome  out  into  the  valley,  in  a  slight  curve. 
Another  one  was  formed  between  the  glaciers  descending  from  the 
canyon  of  the  Merced  and  the  south  fork,  and  remains  now  as  a 
large  pile  of  debris  extending  down  the  valley. 

A  terminal  moraine  extends  across  the  Yosemite  Valley  from  the 
cliffs  just  below  the  Bridal  Veil  Fall,  curving  down  the  river  on  the 
south  side  and  up  again  on  the  north  until  it  meets  the  talus  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  below  El  Capitan,  thus  forming  a  complete  bar 
rier  across  the  valley.  It  is  not  very  conspicuous,  rising  only  about 
twenty  feet  above  the  general  level,  yet  it  seems  to  mark  an  impor 
tant  change  in  the  character  of  the  talus  at  the  foot  of  the  cliffs  of 
the  Yosemite.  Above  it  the  quantity  of  debris  accumulated  in  this 
position  is  exceedingly  small ;  indeed,  there  is  in  some  places  actu 
ally  none  at  all,  the  lower  edge  of  the  cliff  meeting  the  floor  of  the 
valley,  with  hardly  a  fragment  of  rock  lodged  in  the  angle ;  below 
the  moraine,  on  the  other  hand,  the  debris  piles  are  extensive,  unit 
ing  at  the  river,  and  extending  high  up  the  cliffs  on  each  side. 

It  seems  not  unlikely  that  this  moraine  may  have  acted  as  a  dam 
to  retain  the  water  within  the  valley,  after  the  glacier  had  retreated 
to  its  upper  end,  and  that  it  was  while  thus  occupied  by  a  lake  that  it 
was  filled  up  with  the  comminuted  materials  arising  from  the  grinding 
of  the  glaciers  above,  thus  giving  it  its  present  nearly  level  surface. 
It  is  evident,  from  the  fresh  appearance  of  large  masses  of  debris 
along  the  sides  of  the  valley,  that  these  materials  are  now  accumu 
lating  with  considerable  rapidity ;  and  when  we  consider  how  small 
the  whole  quantity  of  talus  is,  as  compared  with  the  hight  and  ex 
tent  of  the  cliffs,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  time  which 
has  elapsed  since  the  Yosemite  was  occupied  by  a  glacier  cannot 
have  been  very  long.  It  would  seem  that  there  are  strong  reasons 
for  believing  that  a  great  change  in  the  climate  of  California  may 
have  taken  place  within  the  historical  period.  We  know  that  such 
a  change  has  occurred,  as  there  is  abundant  evidence  to  prove  that 
the  precipitation  of  moisture  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  was  once  vastly 
greater  than  it  now  is ;  but  to  the  cause  of  this  change  we  have  as 
yet  no  clue. 


VI. 

"THE    BIG    TREES." 


THE    GROVE    IN    CALAVERAS    COUNTY. 

THE  following  exact  and  scientific  measurements  of  some  of  the 
largest  of  the  BIG  TREES  in  the  grove  in  Calaveras  County,  Cali 
fornia,  were  made  in  August,  1865,  by  Dr.  CHARLES  T.  JACKSON  of 
Boston,  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  JOSEPH  B.  MEADE  of  Stockton, 
California.  It  will  be  seen  that  none  of  these  are  so  large  in  cir 
cumference  and  diameter  as  the  "Grizzly  Giant"  and  some  of  its 
companions  in  the  less-known  and  less-visited  grove  near  Mari- 
posa,  as  described  in  Letter  XXI  of  this  volume : — 

"We  were  provided  with  a  Sir  H.  Douglass  reflecting  semi-circle, 
a  reflecting  level,  and  a  measuring  tape,  and  by  means  of  these  in 
struments  have  made  quite  accurate  measurements.  The  horizontal 
point,  or  level,  was  first  ascertained  on  each  tree  by  means  of  the 
reflecting  level,  and  the  angle  was  measured  to  that  point,  and  the 
difference  of  level  was  corrected  for  in  each  case.  By  means  of  the 
tape  the  base  lines  were  determined,  and  the  circumference  of  each 
tree  at  least  six  feet  above  the  ground,  or  where  the  tree  took  its 
proper  form,  was  measured.  Sir  H.  Douglass'  reflecting  semi-circle 
is  made  so  as  to  protract  the  angles,  and  it  carries  also  a  scale  for 
measurement  of  the  sides  of  the  triangles  protracted.  In  several 
instances  we  repeated  the  measurements,  with  different  bases,  espe 
cially  in  those  where  too  high  an  angle  introduced  the  error  of  refrac 
tion  of  the  glass  of  the  mirrors. 

*T  f  rr-  T*  Circumference 

*$*"%*  °f  &&*  six  feet  above 

the  Trees'  ™feet'  ,  the  roots. 

T.  Starr  King,       ....,'.    366  50 

General  Scott, 327  45 

General  Jackson, 320  42 

Two  Sentinels  (front  of  hotel),    .315  — 

Salem  Witch 310  — 

Trinity, 308  48 

Mother  of  the  Forest,   ....    305  63 

William  C.  Bryant, 305  49 

Henry  W.  Beecher, 291  45 

Granite  State, .    286  50 


SUPPLEMENTARY  PAPERS:  THE  BIG  TREES.  437 

rr.  r.  Circumference 

N,a™s  °f  ?¥*  six  feet  above 

theTrees.  in  feet.  £  ^^ 

General  Washington,    ....  284  52 

Abraham  Lincoln, 281  44 

Bay  State, 280  48 

Old  Kentucky, 277  45 

Empire  State, 275  50 

Andrew  Johnson, 273  32 

Daniel  Webster, 270  49 

Mother  and  Son, 269  64 

Edward  Everett, 265  46 

Pride  of  the  Forest 260  50 

Vermont, 259  41 

John  Torrey  (nobis),      ....  259  35 

Arbor  Vitae  Queen, 258  31 

Beauty  of  the  Forest,    ....  258 

Henry  Clay, .241  44 

"  We  measured  the  following  large  pines  near  the  hotel : — 

P.  Englemanni,  or  yellow  pine,  .     232  27 

Another, 220  •        19 

P.  Lambertiana,  or  sugar  pine,   .     165 

"  The  big  stump  covered  by  the  Stump  House  has  a  mean  diam 
eter  of  twenty-three  feet  one  and  one-third  inches,  and  its  least  pos 
sible  age  is  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty  years,  allowing 
only  ten  annual  rings  per  inch.  The  extremes  are  ten  and  sixty, 
and  computing  the  mean  thirty-five  per  inch,  the  tree  will  be  four 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty  years  old." 


THE    SPECIES    AND    THE    NAME. 

A  California  journal  accompanies  the  above  with  these  notes  upon 
the  scientific  status  of  the  Big  Trees : — 

For  several  years  after  their  discovery  there  was  considerable  dif 
ference  of  opinion  among  scientific  men  as  to  the  true  position 
which  the  tree  occupies  in  the  botanical  system.  Soon  after  its  dis 
covery,  an  English  botanist,  supposing  it  to  be  a  new  species,  named 
it  "  Wellingtonea  Gigantea ;"  which,  however,  a  patriotic  American 
proposed  the  more  appropriate  name,  "  Washingtonea  Gigantea." 
It  was  subsequently  named  "Tuxodium  Gigantium,"  by  Messrs. 
Kellogg  &  Behr,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  California  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences,  in  May,  1855.  In  the  succeeding  August,  Dr. 
Torrey,  the  distinguished  American  botanist  in  a  communication  to 
Silliman's  American  Journal  of  Science,  settled  the  matter  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  whole  scientific  world  by  placing  it,  where  it  un 
doubtedly  belongs,  in  the  same  genus  as  the  redwood, — which  was 
already  known  as  the  "  Sequoia," — and  this  being  a  larger  species 
than  any  previously  known,  was  very  properly  called  the  "  Sequoia 
Gigantea." 


VII. 

CALIFORNIA'S    WEALTH. 


STATISTICS. 
From  an  Agricultural  Address  by  DR.  HoLDEN  of  Stockton,  1865. 

THE  State  of  California,  with  a  length  of  570  and  an  average 
breadth  of  230  miles,  embraces  89,685,515  acres  adapted  to  agricul 
tural  purposes,  besides  29,000,000  acres  of  swamp  or  "  tule "  land, 
thousands  of  acres  of  which  are  now  being  reclaimed,  and  much  of 
it  producing  unparalleled  crops  of  vegetables,  grass  and  fruits. 
The  area  of  the  valley  land  is  30,000,000  acres,  making,  with  the 
mountain  land,  a  total  of  100,000,000  acres  suitable  for  agriculture 
and  grazing.  Of  this  there  is  under  fence  over  6,000,000  acres,  of 
which  178,960  acres  (in  1860)  produced  3,068,093  bushels  of  wheat; 
154,690  acres  produced  4,639,678  bushels  of  barley;  37,620  acres 
produced  1,263,459  bushels  of  oats.  This  year,  as  near  as  can  be 
ascertained  up  to  the  present  date,  four  times  the  above  amounts  of 
cereals  have  been  raised.  Fruit  trees  and  grape  vines  in  1860  num 
bered  6,000,000.  These  have  quadrupled  up  to  this  time.  Stock 
of  all  kinds  in  1860  numbered  1,577,980;  horses,  157,700;  cattle, 
722,374;  sheep,  491,794;  goats,  12,743;  swine,  165,921;  mules, 
47,000 ;  poultry,  over  80,000.  At  the  present  time  there  are  over 
2,000,000  sheep,  and  in  no  part  of  the  world  do  they  do  better,  or 
can  they  be  raised  at  a  less  cost.  The  French  and  Spanish  Me- 
rinoes,  the  Southdown,  the  Cotswold,  and  other  varieties,  have  been 
imported  from  the  Atlantic  States,  France,  Spain  and  Australia,  and 
prosper  as  well  as  in  their  native  countries.  Wool  is  fast  becoming 
an  important  article  of  export,  over  7,000,000  pounds  having  been 
shipped  last  year.  Besides  the  inexhaustible  gold  mines,  which  em 
brace  over  44,000  square  miles,  minerals  and  metals  of  almost  every 
kind  have  been  found.  Silver,  copper,  platiha,  iron,  quicksilver,  an 
timony,  tin,  arsenic,  cobalt,  manganese,  lead,  coal,  ochres,  saltpetre  in 
large  quantities,  lime,  gypsum,  freestone,  marble,  granite,  borax  and 
brimstone  are  found  in  quantities  to  supply  the  world.  Petroleum 
has  been  recently  discovered  in  several  sections  of  the  State,  and 
bids  fair  to  be  of  great  value,  thus  adding  another  item  to  our  wealth 
and  commerce.  Over  $1,000,000,000  of  gold  have  been  exported 
since  1856. 


VIII. 

THE     GOLD     MINES     OF     CALIFORNIA 

AND   THE 

SILVER     MINES     OF     NEVADA. 


TIIi;iR     HISTORY,     CONDITION     AND     PROSPECTS. 

THE  following  elaborate  and  authentic  Paper  on  the  Gold  Mines  of 
California,  and  the  Silver  Mines  of  NevadX,  particularly  those  upon 
the  celebrated  Comstock  Vein  in  Virginia  and  Gold  Hill,  is  by  Mr. 
WILLIAM  ASHBURNER,  the  confidential  mining  engineer  of  the  lead 
ing  bankers  of  San  Francisco,  and  the  Mineralogist  of  the  California 
State  Geological  Survey.  It  will  be  found  most  full  and  exhaustive 
on  the  subjects  which  it  treats,  and  as  intelligent  as  it  is  reliable  in 
its  statements;  and  the  Editor  commends  it,  with  confidence  and 
with  pride,  to  all  parties  interested  in  the  development  of  our  great 
mineral  resources,  as  a  faithful  guide  and  instructor  both  in  their 
theoretical  study  and  their  practical  operations : — 

MR.  SAMUEL  BOWLES, — My  Dear  Sir: — 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The  redundancy  of  currency  in  the  eastern  States  has  stimulated 
enterprise,  during  the  last  few  years,  in  all  branches  of  industry,  and 
the  discovery  of  silver  bearing  veins  in  Nevada  has  afforded  a  field 
for  speculation  in  mining  properties,  such  as  has  never  before  been 
witnessed  in  the  United  States. 

Several  millions  of  dollars  have  already  been  invested  by  eastern 
people,  some  of  them  persons  of  small  means,  in  the  mines  on  this 
Coast ;  and  I  purpose  in  the  following  pages  to  show  briefly  the 
present  situation  of  the  two  important  interests  of  gold  and  silver, 
as  exemplified  by  the  quartz  mines  of  California  and  the  Comstock 
vein  of  Nevada. 

29 


44°  ACROSS   THE    CONTINENT. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  excitement  caused  by  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  California  during  the  spring  of  1848.  For  many  years 
subsequent  to  that  event,  the  tide  of  emigration  flowed  steadily 
hither,  bringing  an  adventurous  population  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  attracted  solely  by  the  desire  of  reaping  the  advantages  sup 
posed  to  be  possessed  by  those  engaged  in  mining  for  the  precious 
metals.  The  scene  of  their  operations  extended  along  the  western 
slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  rarely  reaching  into  the  mountains  for 
more  than  twenty-five  miles  from  the  lower  foot  hills,  being  limited 
on  the  south  by  Mariposa  County,  and  on  the  north  by  Siskiyou. 
This  district,  which  is  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length, 
forms  what  is  known  as  the  gold  region  of  California,  and  in  it  are 
those  great  placers  which,  in  spite  of  prophesies  of  early  exhaustion, 
are  still  continuing  to  furnish  an  annual  supply  of  gold,  amounting 
to  more  than  forty  millions  of  dollars. 

QUARTZ    MINING   IN    CALIFORNIA. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  quartz  mining  interest  has  been  gradually 
developed,  so  that  now,  although  the  gross  amount  yielded  by  the 
mines  of  this  nature,  does  not  compare  very  favorably  with  that 
afforded  by  the  placers,  it  is,  and  promises  to  continue  for  many 
years  to  come,  to  be,  one  of  the  most  important  interests  of  the 
State.  It  affords  a  fine  field  for  the  investment  of  capital,  when 
guided  judiciously,  and  the  significant  fact  of  but  few  of  these  mines 
having  as  yet  found  their  way  into  the  hands  of  eastern  proprietors, 
shows  in  what  manner  they  are  regarded  here.  The  principal  quartz 
mining  districts  of  California  are  in  Mariposa  County,  Tuolumne, 
round  about  Sonora,  Amador  County,  near  Jackson,  Nevada  County, 
where  the  celebrated  mines  of  Grass  Valley  are  situated,  Sierra  and 
Plumas  counties. 

The  mining  of  quartz  for  gold  in  California  dates  back  as  far  as 
the  summer  or  autumn  of  1850,  when  a  small  mill  was  constructed 
in  Mariposa  County.  The  year  following,  quartz  mining  was  com 
menced  in  Grass  Valley,  and  has  been  continued  with  the  greatest 
success  in  that  locality  ever  since.  Here  are  now,  without  any  doubt, 
the  richest  gold  mines  in  the  world,  and  they  are  yielding  regu 
larly  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars  a  month,  which  is  nearly  one-third  the  total  pro 
duction  of  gold  from  the  quartz  mines  in  California.  There  are 
probably  at  the  present  time  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  mills 
in  successful  operation  throughout  the  State,  yielding  annually  about 
eight  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  gold.  The  veins  which  furnish 
the  quartz  for  these  mills,  are  generally  situated  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  rich  placers ;  they  have,  for  the  most  p^rt,  a  dip 
and  direction  nearly  coincident  with  the  stratification  ;  their  worka 
ble  width  varies  from  a  few  inches  to  thirty  or  forty  feet,  though  it 
invariably  happens  that  the  wider  the  vein,  the  poorer  it  is.  The 
rock  in  which  they  are  encored  is  either  slate,  granite  or  greenstone, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  state  which  of  these  three  formations  is  most 
prolific,  and  the  best  adapted  for  gold  producing  veins ;  for  we  have, 
in  each  of  them,  mines  which  have  been  worked  for  years,  and  are 


SUPPLEMENTARY   PAPERS:    GOLD    MINES.      44! 

still  continuing  to  yield  apparently  as  well  as  ever.  The  Princeton 
mine  on  the  Mariposa  estate  is  in  slate,  and  is  now  down  to  a  depth 
of  more  than  six  hundred  feet ;  it  has  already  yielded  about  three 
million  of  dollars  worth  of  gold,  and  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
this  mine  is  now  exhausted,  although  the  yield  is  very  much  less 
than  it  was  formerly. 

The  history  of  every  quartz  mine,  which  has  been  worked  for  any 
length  of  time,  will  show  great  changes  in  the  yield  of  rock  from 
month  to  month ;  or,  perhaps,  from  year  to  year ;  and  it  is  not  yet 
proved  that,  in  the  more  permanent  veins  of  California,  the  per 
centage  yield  of  the  quartz  is  less  at  great  depth  than  nearer  the 
surface.  There  appears  to  be  no  general  -rule  governing  the  distri 
bution  of  gold  in  the  body  of  the  vein,  and  after  working  for  months 
with  a  regular  yield,  suddenly,  without  any  apparent  cause,  the 
quartz  will  become  nearly  barren,  and  destroy  well  arranged  plans, 
as  was  the  case  with  the  Princeton  mine  in  December,  1864,  when, 
after  having  for  some  time  afforded  rock  which  was  gradually  in 
creasing  in  value  until  it  yielded  forty  dollars  per  ton,  it  suddenly 
fell  off,  without  giving  any  warning,  to  six  dollars.  /  This  was  the 
immediate  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  Mariposa  Company. 

Near  Jackson,  in  Amador  County,  the  mine  of  Hayward  &  Co., 
affords  an  interesting  example  of  the  success,  which  sometimes  at 
tends  deep  quartz  mining.  The  vein,  upon  which  it  is  situated,  has 
been  worked  for  the  last  ten  years  with  varying  success.  The  re 
sults  obtained,  during  the  first  few  years  of  its  history,  were  any 
thing  but  encouraging,  and  work  was  prosecuted  in  depth  almost 
against  hope.  Since  1860,  however,  the  mine  has  yielded  with  the 
greatest  regularity,  and  now  at*  a  depth  of  nine  hundred  and  sixty 
feet,  the  quartz  is  said  to  be  of  as  good  and  in  some  places  of  even 
a  better  quality  than  that  found  nearer  the  surface.  Geologically, 
this  vein  is  one  of  great  interest.  It  is  situated  at  the  junction  of 
the  slates  and  greenstone,  and  is  of  the  nature  of  a  contact  deposit. 
The  length  of  underground  workings  is  between  five  hundred  and 
six  hundred  feet,  and  in  one  place,  the  vein  has  been  worked  to  a 
width  of  forty  feet. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Grass  Valley  the  veins  are  in  greenstone, 
and  their  width  is  very  much  less,  as  a  general  thing,  than  those 
which  are  found  in  the  slates.  Still  their  greater  richness  enables 
them  to  be  worked  with  large  profits.  Two  of  the  most  famous 
mines  of  this  district  are  the  Massachusetts  Hill  and  Allison  Ranch. 
The  first  of  these  is  from  a  vein  of  about  one  foot  or  fourteen  inches 
in  width,  and  has  produced,  in  connection  with  its  continuation  the 
Gold  Hill  vein,  upwards  of  seven  millions  dollars  worth  of  gold ; 
while  the  Allison  Ranch  had  produced,  between  the  spring  of  1857, 
and  the  winter  of  1861,  from  a  vein  which  will  only  average  ten 
inches  in  width,  some  eight  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and 
since  that  time  probably  as  much  more.  In  the  more  northern  part 
of  the  State,  in  Plumas  County,  are  some  very  successful  mines, 
which  are  situated  in  the  granite  formation ;  and  although  this  dis 
trict  has  been  worked  for  only  a  few  years,  the  veins  give  good  indi 
cation  of  permanence,  and  excellent  results  may  be  expected  from 
this  almost  "unprospected"  region.  f 


442  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 


COST  AND   PROFITS   OF   GOLD   MINING   IN   CALIFORNIA. 

The  profits  realized  from  quartz  mining  adventures,  besides  de 
pending  in  a  great  measure  upon  the  absolute  yield  of  the  rock,  are 
affected  by  the  cost  of  extraction  from  the  mine,  which,  when  the 
wall  rock  is  hard  and  the  vein  narrow,  runs  up  sometimes  as  high 
as  twenty-six  dollars  a  ton.  No  general  average  can  be  given  for 
this  item,  and  every  mine  is  governed  by  circumstances  peculiar  to 
itself.  It  is  different,  however,  with  regard  to  milling ;  here  we 
have  accurate  data  to  follow,  which  are  not  much  affected  by  change 
of  locality.  It  is  rare  that  the  expense  of  treating  the  quartz,  after 
it  leaves  the  mine,  exceeds1  three  dollars  per  ton  in  a  steam  mill,  and 
in  some  mills,  which  are  moved  by  water  power,  this  item  is  only 
about  seventy  cents  a  ton.  As  a  general  thing,  however,  it  may  be 
considered  that  it  requires  quartz  yielding  eight  dollars  a  ton,  when 
both  the  mine  and  mill  are  situated  under  favorable  conditions,  to 
cover  the  expense  of  mining  and  milling.  Therefore,  when  the 
vein  is  of  moderate  size,  say  five  or  six  feet  in  width  and  water 
power  can  be  employed,  quartz  yielding  ten  dollars  per  ton  may 
be  regarded  as  valuable,  and  affording  a  certain  profit. 

In  iS6r,  the  production  of  the  quartz  mines  throughout  the  State 
was  about  six  millions  of  dollars ;  this  year  it  will  probably  be  eight 
millions  of  dollars;  and  the  total  production  in  gold  of  the  Ameri 
can  possessions  on  the  Pacific  Coast  will  not  be  far,  in  round  num 
bers,  from  fifty  millions  of  dollars. 

SILVER    MIXING   IN    NEVADA. 

As  I  before  remarked,  the  best  of  these  mines  in  California  have 
heretofore  been  owned,  almost  exclusively,  by  Californians,  who  are 
well  acquainted  with  their  value,  and  therefore  comparatively  little 
eastern  capital  has  been  invested  in  them.  It  is  not  so,  however, 
with  the  silver  mines  of  Nevada;  and  at  present  a  very  large  pro 
portion  of  the  stock  of  the  incorporated  companies,  working  upon 
the  Comstock  vein,  is  held  in  the  Atlantic  cities.  I  have  con 
sequently  thought  it  well  to  devote  far  more  space  to  these  mines, 
than  to  those  which  possess  at  present  merely  a  local  interest  for 
the  public. 

Although  since  the  discovery  of  silver  in  Nevada,  several  districts 
have  sprung  rapidly  into  notice,  and  enjoyed  an  ephemeral  notoriety, 
the  "Washoe"  region  still  maintains  its  pre-eminence,  and  there 
seems  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  supremacy  which  it  now  en 
joys  will  not  be  seriously  interfered  with  by  any  of  the  districts  of 
less  repute.  The  average  monthly  production  of  the  four  principal 
mining  centers  of  Nevada  has  been,  during  the  first  nine  months  of 
the  present  year,  very  nearly  as  follows ;  and  this  shows  better  than 
any  other  means  their  relative  importance  :— 

Washoe  (Virginia  and  Gold  Hill  districts),     .  $1,236,275. 

Austin  (Reese  River  district), 75.000. 

Aurora  (Esmeralda  district), 19,000. 

Unionviile  (Humboldt  district), 1,282. 


$4,434,66g. 


SUPPLEMENTARY    PAPERS  I     SILVER    MINES.    443 


THE   COMSTOCK   LODE   AND    ITS   PRODUCTS. 

From  the  time  of  the  "first  discovery  of  the  Comstock  lode  in 
1859,  the  annual  production  of  silver  continued  to  increase  regularly 
until  within  the  last  few  months,  when  the  yield  of  the  Virginia  and 
Gold  Hill  districts  began  to  diminish  very  materially,  and  grave  ap 
prehensions  have  been  excited  in  the  minds  of  many  persons, -lest 
these  mines  were  giving  out,  and  fears  were  entertained  that  they 
would  cease  to  pay  their  expenses. 

The  decrease  in  the  production  of  the  mines  of  Nevada  was  most 
marked  between  the  months  of  May  and  July,  when  the  falling  off 
was  nearly  eighteen  thousand  pounds  avoirdupois,  or  about  nine 
tons,  and  the  value  of  the  bullion  forwarded  to  San  Francisco,  dur 
ing  the  quarter  ending  September  3Oth,  was  about  one  million  dol 
lars  less  than  that  of  the  previous  quarter.  The  approximate  yield 
of  all  these  mines  for  the  first  nine  months  of  this  year  lias  been 
nearly  as  follows  : — 

Pounds 
avoirdupois. 

January, 54,123, 

February, 59,106, 

March, 64,737, 

April, 61,179,    ) 

May, 58,453>    [    $4,261,811. 

June, 49,979,    ) 

July, 4i,526>    ) 

August, 44,927>    I    $3,224,951. 

September, 40,278,    ) 

The  principal  cause  of  the  large  yield  for  the  month  of  March 
was  the  discovery  and  opening  up  in  the  "Yellow  Jacket"  mine,  of 
a  valuable  deposit  of  ore,  which  lasted  into  June,  but  since  that 
time  the  production  of  this  mine  has  decreased  considerably.  In 
nearly  every  mine  on  the  Comstock,  from  the  "Ophir"  to  the 
"Belcher,"  the  lower  workings  show  ore  which  is  of  a  poorer  qual 
ity  and  much  inferior  in  quantity  to  what  was  found  in  some  of  the 
upper  levels.  In  view  of  these  facts,  it  becomes  an  interesting  mat 
ter  to  ascertain  what  are  the  probabilities  of  discovering  new  and 
valuable  deposits,  as  the  explorations  are  continued  in  depth,  and 
also  what  quantity  of  ore  now  exists  in  the  upper  works,  which  are 
now  furnishing  nearly  all  the  daily  supplies.  • 

Both  these  questions  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  decide.  In  form 
ing  an  opinion  with  regard  to  the  first,  we  must  reason  entirely  from 
analogy  and  apply  to  Washoe  the  experience  acquired  by  mining  in 
other  countries ;  and  the  difficulties  which  surround  the  latter  are 
also  great,  owing  to  the  peculiar  and  irregular  manner  in  which  the 
deposits  of  ore  occur ;  therefore,  what  follows  with  regard  to  the 
present  condition  of  these  mines  must  be  regarded  more  as  the  ex 
pression  of  a  personal  opinion,  rather  than  an  infallible  conclusion, 
the  correctness  of  which  may  at  any  time  be  destroyed  by  the  clis- 


444  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

covery  of  new  bodies  of  ore  in  ground  heretofore  unexplored.  It 
is  only  by  repeated  examinations,  made  at  short  intervals  of  time, 
that  a  true  idea  can  be  obtained  of  the  value  of  the  daily  or  weekly 
developments  made  in  the  progress  of  working  one  of  these  mines. 

It  has  never  been  the  policy  of  any  of  the  companies  of  Virginia 
and  Gold  Hill,  to  keep  reserves  of  ore  on  hand,  which  would  furnish 
supplies  when  any  particular  deposit  was  exhausted.  They  con 
sulted,  merely,  what  appeared  to  them  to  be  the  interest  of  the 
moment,  and  assumed  that  each  new  body  of  ore,  which  they  met 
in  the  progress  of  working,  was  inexhaustible.  Thus  a  result,  which 
was  easy  to  foresee,  has  now  taken  place.  Nearly  all  the  mines  on 
the  Comstock,  from  the  "Ophir"  to  the  "Belcher,"  find  themselves, 
almost  simultaneously,  either  without  ore  in  their  lower  works,  or 
else  what  they  have  is  of  such  inferior  quality  that  they  are  obliged 
to  await  the  result  of  future  explorations.  To  use  a  Mexican  term, 
they  are  no  longer  in  bonanza. 

It  may  be  well,  before  speaking  of  any  individual  mine,  to  de 
scribe,  without  too  much  detail,  some  of  the  peculiar  features  of  the 
Comstock  lode,  as  shown  by  the  extensive  workings  which  have 
been  made  upon  it  during  the  last  five  years.  The  Comstock  vein 
is  situated  on  the  eastern  slope  of  Mount  Davidson,  at  an  elevation 
of  some  six  thousand  three  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  about  one  thousand  eight  hundred  feet  above  the  valley  of  the 
Carson  River,  while  the  mountain  rises  behind  it  on  the  west  to  a 
hight  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  feet.  Directly  on  its  course  lie 
the  cities  of  Virginia  and  Gold  Hill.  The  vein  is  formed  in  a  fis 
sure  at  the  junction  of  two  formations  of  different  lithological  char 
acters,  and  has  a  direction  very  nearly  north  and  south.  The  West 
ern  Country  rock,  as  it  is  termed,  and  which  forms  the  foot  wall  of 
the  vein,  has  a  dip  towards  the  east  of  from  forty  degrees  to  sixty 
degrees,  and  is  a  greenstone  porphyry,  containing  a  large  propor 
tion  of  hornblende,  hard  and  compact  in  its  texture.  The  Eastern 
Country  consists  of  a  much  softer  feldspathic  porphyry,  devoid  of 
hornblende.  As  we  proceed  eastward  from  the  vein,  this  feld 
spathic  porphyry  is  overlaid  by  trachyte.  In  some  places,  particu 
larly  opposite  the  northern  portion  of  the  vein,  this  porphyritic  belt 
is  of  great  width,  and  in  front  of  the  "Ophir"  and  "California" 
mines,  it  is  probably  two  thousand  feet  wide.  As  we  go  south,  how 
ever,  towards  the  Gold  Hill  claims,  it  becomes  narrower,  until  op 
posite  the  "Yellow  Jacket,"  its  width  scarcely  exceeds  five  hundred 
feet.  Still  farther  south,  it  rapidly  widens  again,  and  in  front  of  the 
"Uncle  Sam,"  it  is  at  least  one  thousand  feet  wide.  The  green 
stone  porphyry  of  the  Western  Country  is  recognized  as  being  emi 
nently  a  mineral  bearing  formation,  and  possesses  a  striking  re 
semblance,  in  its  lithological  characters,  to  the  rock  that  encases 
the  veins  of  some  of  the  most  noted  silver  producing  districts  of 
the  world,  which,  after  being  successfully  worked  for  many  centuries, 
have  obtained  a  conspicuous  celebrity,  and  are  still  regarded  as 
most  persistent,  continuing  as  they  do  to  furnish  their  metalliferous 
contents  to  as  great  a  depth  as  has  yet  been  attained  by  mining. 

On  the  surface  of  the  ground,  the  vein  appears  in  places  to  be 
split  up  and  broken  into  several  distinct  portions.  In  the  mines  of 


SUPPLEMENTARY    PAPERS:     SILVER   MINES.    445 

Virginia,  the  most  eastern  of  these  bodies  is  nearly  vertical  for  sev 
eral  hundred  feet  below  the  surface,  while  in  many  of  those  in  Gold 
Hill,  it  is  sensibly  parallel  to  the  more  western  body,  which  every 
where  lies  upon  the  hard  compact  country  rock,  and  dips  with  great 
regularity  towards  the  east.  The  western  body,  being  as  a  general 
thing  more  metalliferous,  is  not  so  liable  to  be  affected  by  atmos 
pheric  agencies,  and  on  account  of  its  greater  hardness  has  pre 
served  a  marked  prominence  above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  while 
on  the  other  hand,  the  more  eastern  and  mineral  bearing  portion  of 
the  lode  is  comparatively  soft  and  friable,  and  has  generally  been 
degraded  to  -the  level  of  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  in  some 
places  it  is  completely  covered  by  detritus.  The  distance,  which 
separates  these  two  principal  bodies,  is  sometimes  as  much  as  six 
hundred  feet,  as  is  the  case  back  of  the  "Ophir,"  where  the  promi 
nent  croppings  are  known  as  the  Virginia,  and  are  quite  non-metal 
liferous.  Back  of  the  "  Gould  &  Curry, "nhe  croppings  are  known 
as  the  "El-Dorado"  vein.  As  these  are  all,  so  far  as  yet  explored, 
non-productive  masses  of  quartz,  they  possess  no  value  for  mining 
purposes ;  still,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  were  more  marked  and 
prominent,  "locations"  were  made  upon  them,  at  an  earlier  date 
than  upon  the  richer  portions  of  the  lode ;  and  although  these 
bodies,  which  appear  separate  and  distinct  near  the  surface,  con 
verge  towards  each  other  and  meet,  forming  one  vein  at  an  incon 
siderable  depth,  much  litigation  to  the  Virginia  companies  was 
caused  by  this  apparent  plurality  of  veins,  and  has  given  rise  to 
many  suits  involving  the  question  of  "one  or  two  ledges."  All 
recent  developments  have,  however,  gone  to  prove  that,  although 
on  the  surface,  there  are  many  bodies  of  quartz,  more  or  less  met 
alliferous,  separated  from  each  other  by  clay  and  fragments  of 
porphyry,  these  blend  together  on  descending,  and  form  one  and 
the  same  vein. 

Towards  'the  west  the  main  vein  becomes  incorporated  with  a 
large  mass  of  quartz,  associated  with  a  reddish  brown  ferruginous 
clay,  which  has  caused  the  name  of  the  "red  lead"  to  be  given  to 
this  portion  of  the  mine:  Occasionally  this  "red  lead"  is  impreg 
nated  with  small  quantities  of  sulphuret  of  silver,  but  in  the  "Ophir" 
it  has  never  been  found  of  a  sufficient  amount  to  pay  for  working. 
As  we  proceed  south,  however,  this  "red  lead,"  in  many  places, 
proves  productive,  as  in  the  "Gould  &  Curry"  and  "Savage" 
mines,  but  it  is,  even  here,  separated  by  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  most  western  body,  which  is  still  barren. 

In  the  "Chollar"  and  Gold  Hill  claims,  the  back  vein  or  Western 
Country  ore  begins  to  prove  productive,  though  the  more  eastern 
body  continues  to  preserve  its  superiority.  The  large  space,  which 
separates  the  most  easterly  portion  from. the  back  vein,  is  filled  with 
bodies  of  quartz,  separated  from  each  other  by  fragments  of  por 
phyry,  technically  termed  "horses,"  which  are  frequently  of  great 
size,  and  have  been  detached  from  the  two  walls.  These  "horses" 
are  surrounded  by  seams  of  clay  of  various  colors  and  thicknesses, 
and,  in  consistency,  resemble  that  which  forms  the  eastern  and 
western  selvages  of  the  vein. 

The  mines  extend  along  the  course  of  the  Comstock  vein  for  a 


446  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

distance  of  more  than  two  miles.  It  is  not  in  every  place  where 
explorations  have  been  undertaken  that  they  have  proved  profit 
able  ;  in  some,  ore  has  been  found  of  the  greatest  richness  near  the 
surface ;  in  others,  it  is  only  at  considerable  depth  that  anything  of 
value  has  been  discovered;  while  elsewhere  works,  after  having 
been  prosecuted  for  months,  have  been  abandoned  as  hopeless. 
This  is  the  history  of  all  mineral  bearing  veins  in  other  countries. 
Some  portions  are  rich  and  valuable,  while  others  are  barren  and 
worthless ;  and  certainly  there  is  no  silver  producing  region  in  the 
world,  that  has  ever  yielded  so  large  an  amount  of.bullion  in  so 
short  a  space  of  time,  as  that  district  on  the  Comstock,"lying  between 
the  "Ophir"  on  the  north,  in  Virginia,  and  the  "Belcher"  on  the 
south,  in  Gold  Hill. 

In  the  working  of  these  mines,  however,  no  regular  system  of  ex 
ploitation  has  ever  been  pursued ;  so  that,  in  the  wide  space  between 
the  eastern  and  western  walls,  many  valuable  deposits  were  over 
looked  in  the  progress  of  working,  and  since  the  lower  levels  have  in 
some  cases  ceased  to  prove  profitable,  the  upper  works  have  been 
more  thoroughly  prospected,  and  generally  with  very  excellent  results. 

THE   GOULD   AND   CURRY   MINE. 

The  "Gould  &  Curry"  Company  have  a  location  of  twelve  hun 
dred  feet  upon  the  course  of  the  vein,  or  rather  their  stock  repre 
sents  this  number;  but  in  reality  the  whole  actual  length  of  the 
claim  is  only  nine  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  owing,  I  believe,  to  an 
error  of  measurement  between  the  original  bounds.  Of  this  nine 
hundred  and  sixty  feet,  no  more  than  about  four  hundred  feet  of  the 
southern  end  has  ever  been  productive  ground;  and,  although  the 
balance  has  been  thoroughly  prospected  on  the  north,  towards  the 
"Best"  and  "Belcher,"  it  is  an  accepted  conclusion  that  no  reliance 
can  be  placed  upon  this  portion  of  the  claim,  as  furnishing  any  sup 
plies  of  ore  in  the  future,  unless  at  a  much  greater  depth  than  has  yet 
been  obtained.  The  ore  producing  portion  of  this  mine  has  been 
hitherto- confined  to  that  triangular  space  comprised  between  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  the  "El-Dorado"  vein,  as  indicated  by  the 
croppings,  and  the  eastern  clay  selvage,  a  short  distance  west  of  the 
Bonner  shaft.  The  main  workings  of  the  mine  were  upon  an  ex 
ceedingly  rich  body  of  ore  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long, 
and  which  extended  to  the  south  end  of  the  company's  claim,  where 
it  adjoins  the  "Savage."  This  deposit  was  formerly  worked  with 
the  greatest  extravagance,  and,  until  the  management  of  Mr.  Bonner, 
absolutely  no  works  of  exploration  had  been  kept  in  advance  of  those 
of  extraction,  so  that,  when  he  took  charge  of  the  mine  in  June, 
1864,  he  found  himself  with  apparently  nothing  to  work  upon,  and 
only  those  portions  of  the  older  works,  which  were  considered  as 
being  exhausted,  from  which  to  draw  his  supplies  of  ores,  and  these, 
owing  to  ineffective  timbering,  were  rapidly  caving  in.  He  imme 
diately  commenced  prospecting  the  ground  below  the  "adit  level," 
and  also  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  old  workings.  He  was  fortu 
nate  to  discover,  in  many  parts  of  the  mine  which  had  been  entirely 
abandoned,  comparatively  small  bodies  of  ore  of  inferior  richness 
to  those  which  formerly  rendered  this  mine  so  celebrated ;  and  it  is 


SUPPLEMENTARY    PAPERS:     SILVER    MINES.     447 

these  which  have  kept  the  works  in  existence  since  that  time.  He 
•  also  commenced  a  new  shaft  outside  the  limits  of  the  vein  on  the 
east,  for  the  purpose  of  prospecting  the  ground  to  a  much  greater 
depth  than  had  been  attained  by  any  previous  exploration.  This 
shaft  is  now  six  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet  below  the  p  street  tun 
nel,  but  its  bottom  is  not  yet  in  the  vein.  Only  one  drift  has  as  yet 
been  run  from  the  shaft  west  towards  the  vein.  This  is  at  a  depth 
of  two  hundred  feet  below  the  adit.  Although  the  fissure  is  filled 
with  barren,  unproductive  matter,  where  it  is  intersected  by  this 
drift,  it  is  still  of  good  width,  and  is  not  far  from  one  hundred  and 
thirty  feet  between  the  two  walte.  The  work  of  sinking  this  shaif 
still  further,  and  developing  the  ground  by  means  of  drifts,  is  being 
continually  prosecuted. 

All  the  ore  that  is  now  being  taken  from  this  mine  comes  from 
the  croppings  or  the  upper  levels  on  both  sides  of  the  old  work 
ings,  and  discoveries  have  frequently  been  made  in  this  unexplored 
ground,  which  were  not  anticipated,' so  that  it  is  impossible  to  pre 
dict  with  any  degree  of  certainty  how  long  these  supplies  will  last ; 
but  there  is  very  little  doubt  that  there  is  sufficient  ore  in  the  mine, 
and  in  sight,  to  continue  the  present  monthly  production  of  about 
four  thousand  five  hundred  tons  for  at  least  four  months.  Other 
deposits  may  be  met  with  which  will  furnish  supplies  for  a  longer 
time;  but  this  is  all  that  can  be  relied  upon  with  certainty.  The 
affairs  of  the  company,  both  above  and  below  ground,  appear  now 
to  be  managed  with  skill  and  economy,  and  afford  a  striking  con 
trast  to  what  was  formerly  the  case,  during  the  first  years  of  the 
history  of  this  mine. 

Immediately  adjoining  the  "Gould  &  Curry"  on  the  south  is  the 
"Savage."  The  principal  workings  in  this  mine  have  been  upon 
a  continuation  of  the  rich  body  of  ore  found  in  the  "  Gould  &  Curry." 
In  this  latter  mine,  the  deposit  had  a  general  dip  towards  the  south 
of  about  twenty  degrees,  and,  although  the  most  valuable  portion 
was  some  distance  north  of  the  boundary  line,  it  still  continued  to 
furnish  a  large  amount  of  rich  ore.  The  greater  bulk  of  this  has 
now  been  worked  out,  and  explorations  are  being  prosecuted  on 
every  side  of  the  old  workings,  where  there  is  any  prospect  that  de 
posits  may  have  been  overlooked.  As  a  general  thing,  these  have 
been  very  successful,  and  several  bodies  of  ore  have  been  discovered 
within  the  last  few  months,  the  existence  of  which  was  not  suspected, 
while  the  mine  was  in  more  prosperous  circumstances.  The  lowest 
workings  are  four  hu'ndred  and  forty-five  feet  from  the  surface,  and 
the  body  of  ore  which  has  been  laid  open  has  not  yet  been  suffi 
ciently  developed  to  enable  me  to  form  a  positive  'opinion,  with 
regard  to  its  value  and  probable  duration.  As  vet,  however,  there 
are  no  such  indications  as  would  lead  one  to  suppose  that  this  body 
of  ore  will  prove  anything  like  so  valuable  and  extensive  as  those 
found  in  the  upper  works. 

THE   OPHIR   MINE. 

In  the  "Ophir"  mine,  the  appearance  of  the  lower  workings  is 
gloomy  in  the  extreme.  The  main  shaft  is  now  down  to  a  depth  of 
fiveihundred  and  eighty-six  feet  from  the  surface.  At  the  bottom 


44$  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

of  this,  there  is  a  sump  twenty-one  feet  deep,  making  in  all  a  depth 
of  six  hundred  and  six  feet  from  the  surface.  At  the  ninth  level  or 
five  hundred  and  eighty-six  feet  from  the  surface,  the  fissure  is 
twenty-two  feet  wide,  but  contains  no  ore,  and  is  filled  with  clay  and 
fragments  of  porphyry ;  in  fact  nothing  of  value  has  been  discovered 
in  this  mine  in  the  progress  of  sinking  below  the  level  of  the  seventh 
gallery,  or  for  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  feet.  All 
the  ore,  which  is  now  being  extracted,  amounting  to  from  forty  to 
fifty  tons  a  day,  is  taken  from  the  upper  works  near  and  above  the 
seventh  level.  How  long  these  supplies  will  last,  it  is  utterly  im 
possible  to  predict.  Two  years  ^go  those  persons  who  were  most 
familiar  with  this  mine  were  unable  to  see  ore  for  more  than  eight 
months'  supply;  and  since  that  time  the  production,  although  greatly 
diminished,  has  been  maintained  so  as  to  pay  all  ordinary  expenses. 
It  is  obviously,  however,  a  mere  question  of  time,  and  a  few  months 
more  work  must  exhaust  all  the  ore  above  the  level  of  the  "Latrobe 
Tunnel,"  so  that  the  final  prospects  of  this  mine  are  entirely  de 
pendent  upon  what  will  be  met  with  after  sinking  still  farther  to  the 
east. 

OTHER   LEADING   MINES. 

Like  the  "Ophir,"  "Gould  &  Curry"  and  "Savage,"  the  "Chol- 
lar-Potosi"  company  have  been  obliged  to  commence  and  sink- a 
new  shaft  in  the  Eastern  Country,  some  distance  to  the  east  of  the 
vein,  in  order  to  avoid  the  great  expense  of  working  in  the  hard 
Western  Country.  It  is  expected  that  by  means  of  this  shaft,  when 
completed,  the  vein  can  be  developed  to  a  depth  of  at  least  eight 
hundred  feet.  The  principal  exploitations  in  this  mine  are  in  what 
are  known  as  the  old  Bajazet  workings,  about  one  hundred  and  forty 
feet  south  of  the  north  line  of  the  claim.  Here  the  pay  seam  varies 
in  width  from  ten  to  twenty-five  feet,  and  has  been  developed  on  a 
face  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet.  About  forty  tons  a 
day  are  being  extracted  from  this  portion  of  the  mine,  which  is  worth 
forty  dollars  a  ton.  About  thirty-five  tons  a  day  are  now  being 
taken  from  workings  at  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from 
the  surface,  which  are  being  continued  upwards.  This  body  is  now 
eight  feet  wide  and  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  and 
there  seems  every  probability  that  there  is  now  sufficient  ore  in 
sight,  of  an  apparent  average  value  of  thirty-five  dollars  a  ton,  to 
last  nearly  a  year.  The  lowest  workings  in  this  mine  are  at  a  depth 
of  four  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet ;  and  on  the  lower  levels  the 
ore  is  still  of  an  excellent  quality,  so  that  there  is  a  fair  prospect  of 
these  works  continuing  to  furnish  ore  to  a  considerably  greater 
depth  than  has  yet  been  attained. 

The  "Hale  &  Norcross"  company,  whose  claim  adjoins  on  the 
north,  is  now  down  to  a  depth  of  seven  hundred  feet,  and  in  drifting 
south  they  discovered  an  excellent  deposit  of  ore  which,  however, 
was  found  to  be  upon  the  ground  of  the  "Chollar-Potosi."  This 
'  was  at  a  depth  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  below  the  lowest 
workings  of  this  latter  company. 

The  profits  of  the  "Chollar-Potosi"  mine  for  the  month  of  Sep 
tember  last,  were  seventeen  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-one 


I 

SUPPLEMENTARY   PAPERS  :     SILVER    MINES.    449 

dollars,  and  were  realized  from  the  sale  and  milling  of  about  four 
thousand  two  hundred  tons.  The  ore  yielded  in  the  mill  from  thirty- 
three  dollars  to  forty  dollars  per  ton. 

In  the  "Imperial"  mine,  the  lower  station  is  five  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  feet  from  the  surface.  The  present  daily  extraction 
from  this  mine  is  now  about  one  hundred  tons,  worth  say  thirty-five 
dollars  a  ton.  Seventy  feet  above  the  lower  station  in  the  old  work 
ings,  there  are  supplies  of  ore  for  perhaps  six  weeks;  and  in  the 
lower  works,  the  pay  seam  has  a  mean  width  of  about  twenty-seven 
feet,  and  continues  through  the  whole  length  of  the  claim,  or  seven 
hundred  and  eighteen  feet.  This  will  probably  furnish  ore  enough 
for  from  four  to  six  months'  workings.  No  works  of  prospecting  in 
depth  are  being  carried  on,  and  the  shaft  is  in  such  bad  condition, 
that,  should  the  coming  winter  prove  wet,  serious  apprehensions 
would  be  entertained  of  a  cave,  which  would  oblige  work  to  be  sus 
pended.  It  is  contemplated  to  sink  a  new  shaft,  some  distance  to 
the  east  of  the  present  one  in  the  solid  Eastern  Country;  but  it  has 
not  yet  been  commenced. 

The  lower  works  of  the  "  Empire  "  do  not  present  so  good  an  ap 
pearance  as  those  of  the  "Imperial."  The  fifth  and  lowest  station 
is  at  a  depth  of  six  hundred  and  fifteen  feet.  Between  the  second 
and  third  stations,  all  the  ore  has  been  worked  out ;  between  the 
third  and  fourth,  nearly  all,  except  what  has  been  left  to  support  its 
shaft ;  and  between  the  fourth  and  fifth,  there  are  about  fifty-six  feet 
of  ore  that  is  undisturbed.  With  the  exception  of  what  may  be 
ultimately  met  with  in  sinking  still  farther,  the  main  reliance  of  this 
mine  is  from  a  body  of  unexplored  ground  within  one  hundred  and 
thirty  feet  of  the  surface.  This  is  about  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  high,  seventy-five  feet  long  and  fifty  feet  wide,  and  I  understand 
that,  since  I  examined  the  mine,  this  ground  has  afforded  some  good 
ore.  Preparations  are  being  made  for  sinking  still  farther,  but  a 
wet  winter  will  be  likely  to  affect  disastrously  this  mine,  as  well  as 
all  others  in  Gold  Plill  proper. 

THE   FUTURE   OF  THE   COMSTOCK   MINES. 

Now  what  are  the  probabilities  of  finding  new  deposits  of  ore  in 
these  mines,  as  the  works  are  pursued  in  depth  ?  It  is  now  an  ac 
cepted  conclusion  by  all  those  persons,  who  have  examined  the 
matter  carefully,  and  have  had  the  most  experience  in  geological  as 
well  as  general  mining  matters,  that  the  Comstock  is  a  fissure  vein 
of  extraordinary  width  and  productiveness,  and,  consequently,  rea 
soning  from  analogy,  we  have  great  right  to  assume  that  ore  exists 
and  will  ultimately  be  found  at  as  great  a  depth  as  it  is  possible  to 
extend  underground  workings.  In  fact,  there  is  no  instance,  where 
a  well  defined  fissure  vein  has  been  found  terminating  entirely  in 
depth ;  and  although  nothing  is  more  frequent  in  the  progress  of 
working  than  to  meet  with  barren  zones  of  unproductive  matter, 
their  metalliferous  contents  have  never  been  exhausted  at  any  depth, 
which  has  yet  been  obtained  by  mining.  The  limit  to  the  successful 
working  of  one  of  these  veins  appears  to  be  fixed  entirely  by  the 
increased  cost  of  extraction  of  the  ore,  and  pumping  the  water  from 


45O  ACROSS    THE    CONTINENT. 

the  lower  levels,  and  consequent  reduction  of  the  profits.  There  is 
a  point,  of  course,  where,  in  the  absence  of  new  discoveries  of  in 
creased  value,  the  receipts  will  exactly  counterbalance  the  expenses 
of  working  ;  and  then  soon  these  latter  will  exceed  the  former. 

Nearly  all  the  silver  producing  mines  of  Mexico  are  upon  fissure 
veins,  and  the  principal  one  of  them,  the  "Jeta  Madre"  of  Guan- 
axuato,  has  many  points  of  resemblance  to  the  Comstock.  It  has 
been  actively  worked  for  more  than  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years, 
and  in  the  year  1803  the  depth  attained  in  one  mine  upon  its  course, 
"the  Valenciana,"  was  about  twelve  hundred  feet,  which  is  below 
the  point  at  which  nearly  all  the  mines  in  Mexico  cease  to  pay  a 
profit  on  account  of  the  largely  increased  expenses  of  working.  But 
owing  to  the  great  width  of  this  vein,  which  does  not,  however,  ex 
ceed  that  of  the  Comstock,  works  have  been  successfully  continued 
to  a  depth  of  two  thousand  feet,  and  it  is  now  the  deepest  mine  on 
this  Continent.  During  its  history,  there  have  been  periods  of  pro 
found  depression,  and  the  rich  bonanzas,  which  gave  it  a  prominent 
celebrity  throughout  Mexico,  and  have  made  it  an  historical  mine, 
were  at  times  replaced  by  ore  of  merely  average  value,  and  occa 
sionally  by  vein  matter  that  was  entirely  unproductive  ;  still,  work 
was  prosecuted  in  depth,  and  the  discovery  of  new  deposits  rewarded 
the  efforts  and  enterprise  of  the  owners. 

Nearly  every  mine  of  importance  in.  the  world  will  show  a  similar 
record.  In  fact,  all  indications  with  regard  to  the  continuance  of 
mineral  deposits,  and  the  discovery  of  new  ores  of  increased  rich 
ness,  are  acknowledged  to  be  of  a  doubtful,  character  ;  and  there 
seems  to  be  no  department  of  human  science,  which  will  enable  us 
to  fix  with  certainty  the  limits  of  possible  success  or  possible  disap 
pointment  ;  and  thus  it  is  only  after  long  and  fruitless  explorations 
that  we  can  decide  whether  labor  should  cease,  and  the  works  be 
abandoned. 

The  Freiberg  mines  in  Germany  present  another  interesting  ex 
ample  of  veins  of  this  character  continuing  in  richness  to  a  great 
depth.  The  mean  depth  to  which  they  have  been  worked  is  now 
about  twelve  hundred  feet,  and  although  continually  increasing,  it 
does  not  appear  that  there  has  been  any  falling  off  during  long  pe 
riods  in-  the  average  yield  of  the  ores  for  the  last  three  centuries. 

The  silver  mines  of  Andreasberg  in  the  Hartz  have  been  worked 
since  1520,  with  varying  success  and  profit.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century,  the  workings  were  down  to  a  depth  of  one 
thousand  five  hundred  feet,  and  since  that  time  a  depth  of  two 
thousand  five  hundred  feet  has  been  attained.  Although  it  is  now 
generally  conceded  that  these  famous  mines  have  become  exhausted, 
the  cause  appears  to  be  entirely  owing  to  the  fact  of  the  lodes  and 
mineral  bearing  portion  having  been  intersected  by  a  cross  vein  of 
an  older  geological  formation,  consisting  of  schist  and  barren  clay; 
and  the  probability  of  this  being  ultimately  the  case  has  been  known 
and  predicted  for  years.  In  Hungary,  the  silver  and  gold  mines 
of  Schemnitz  have  been  worked  since  the  year  735,  and  accurate 
records  with  regard  to  their  seasons  of  success  and  depression  ex 
tend  back  as  far  as  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Al 
though  the  ore  is  much  inferior  in  richness  to  that  even  now  being 


SUPPLEMENTARY    PAPERS  I     SILVER   MINES.     45 1 

taken  from  the  Comstock,  the  limits  of  depth  to  which  they  have 
been  successfully  worked  would  seem  to  have  depended  entirely 
upon  the  increased  cost  entailed  by  the  pumping  of  water ;  but  the 
utmost  confidence  has  always  prevailed  with  regard  to  the  continu 
ance  of  ore  to  any  depth  that  it  might  be  possible  to  carry  the  un 
derground  explorations ;  and  works  of  great  expense  have  been 
undertaken  on  several  occasions  to  drain  the  'mines  by  means  of 
adits.  The  first'  of  these  was  commenced  about  three  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago,  another  forty  years  later,  which  was  not  completed 
for  two  hundred  and  seventy  years,  and  still  more  recently,  in  1 782, 
a  new  tunnel  was  commenced,  and  not  yet  terminated,  which  will 
be  about  nine  miles  in  length  and  had  already  cost  in  1850  over  a 
million  of  dollars.  This,  when  completed,  will  enable  the  mines  to 
be  worked  to  a  depth  of  fifteen  hundred  feet.  The  total  length  of 
the  adits,  which  have  been  constructed  for  the  purpose  of  draining 
these  mines  during  the  last  three  centuries,  is  not  less  than  forty 
miles. 

Works  like  these,  involving  so  much  time,  labor  and  expense,  are 
never  undertaken  without  securing  beforehand  the  best  mining  tal 
ent,  which  the  country  affords,  and.  all  go  to  prove  that  the  utmost 
reliance  is  placed  on  the  continuance  of  these  veins  in  depth,  and 
that  the  great  object  is  to  secure  economy  of  working,  so  as  to 
enable  greater  profits  to  be  realized  from  the  treatment  of  the  ores. 

Within  the  last  five  years  upwards  of  thirty-five  millions  dollars 
worth  of  bullion  have  been  taken  out  .and  thrown  upon  the  markets 
of  the  world,  from  the  mines  of  Virginia  and  Gold  Hill,  in  Nevada ; 
and  if  we  consider  the  wasteful  extravagance  of  the  methods  for 
merly  employed  for  working  the  ores,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  not 
more  than  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  precious  metals  was 
secured,  and  consequently  ore  containing  silver  and  gold  to  the 
amount  of  nearly  sixty  millions  dollars  has  been  extracted  from  the 
mines  of  a  district  not  more  than  two  miles  in  length.  The  "  Gould 
&  Curry"  alone  has  furnished  fourteen  millions-dollars,  and  although 
we  must  not  estimate  the  present  value  of  a  mine  from  what  it  has 
produced,  yet  it  would  be  assuming  the  occurence  of  a  most  extra 
ordinary  natural  phenomenon  to  suppose  that  all  this  vast  amount 
of  mineral  wealth  had  been  segregated  within  a  space  of  three  hun 
dred  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  by  less  than  five  hundred  in  depth,  and 
that  no  more  remained  behind  to  reward  future  explorations.  In 
view  of  these  facts,  although  nearly  every  mine  on  the  Comstock 
has  passed  through  a  rich  body  of  ore  or  bonanza,  we  have  strong 
reasons  for  presuming  that  other  deposits  will  be  met  within  the 
limits  of  profitable  working.  The  average  depth  of  these  mines  is 
not  yet  more  than  five  hundred  feet,  and  ores  yielding  thirty-five 
dollars  per  ton  will  allow  works  to  be  carried  to  a  depth  of  from 
one  thousand  to  one  thousand  two  hundred  feet,  and  still  leave  a 
small  margin  for  profit. 

As  a  general  thing,  these  mines  have  been  worked  heretofore,  not 
so  much  with  reference  to  the  permanent  interests  of  the  stockhold 
ers,  as  for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  market  value  of  the  stock. 
With_this  view,  it  has  frequently  happened  that  circumstances  deeply 
affecting  the  interests  of  the  mines  have  been  concealed  from  the 


452          ACROSS,  THE  CONTINENT. 

public,  and  the  policy  has  hitherto  been  to  increase  the  production 
as  largely  as  possible,  in  order  to  enable  certain  persons  to  realize 
immediately  great  profits  from  the  sale  of  their  stock,  rather  than 
await  the  slower  and  perhaps  more  hazardous  return  which  it  was 
expected  would  be  afforded  by  dividends.  This  is  the  only  excuse, 
or  rather  reason,  why,  in  the  midst  of  mines  yielding  so  enormously, 
no  proportion  of  the  gain  in  their  more  prosperous  days  was  ever 
devoted  to  the  purposes  of  exploration,  and  the  necessity  of  keeping 
these  works  in  advance  of  those  of  extraction  seems  never  to  have 
entered  the  minds  of  those  persons  who  were  called  upon  to  fill  the 
positions  of  trustees  to  the  various  companies,  until  the  receipts  be 
gan  to  be  inferior  to  the  expenses.  A  very  different  policy  from  that 
which  prevailed  heretofore  now  governs  the  administration  of  these 
mines,  and  the  experience  that  has  been  gained  during  the  last  five 
years  is  beginning  to  show  itself  in  more  economical  management 
and  better  divided  labor.  Easy  access  can  be  obtained  to  the  mines, 
and  the  financial  position  of  the  companies  can  generally  be  ascer 
tained  without  difficulty.  In  very  many  ways,  the  situation  of  these 
companies  is  much  more  satisfactory  than  it  was  two  or  three  years 
since.  The  titles  to  their  mining  ground  have,  as  a  general  thing, 
been  perfected,  although  frequently  at  an  enormous  expense,  and 
now  the  profits  accruing  from  the  working  of  the  ores  can  be  de 
voted  either  to  the  payment  of  dividends,  or  to  the  farther  develop 
ment  of  the  mines ;  and  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  frightful 
expenditures,  which  have  been  incurred  for  litigation,  being  in  some 
cases  more  than  the  total  receipts  from  the  mines  themselves,  are 
able  to  form  some  idea  what  an  important  item  of  expense  has  ceased 
to  exist.  Again,  many  of  the  companies,  that  were  accustomed  to 
employ  outside  mills  for  working  their  ores,  now  possess  mills  of 
their  own,  in  which  the  cost  of  treatment  is  barely  one-half  what  it 
was  formerly. 

In  addition  to  these  important  gains,  the  influence  of  which  is  al 
ready  being  felt,  several  projects  have  been  set  on  foot  that  cannot 
fail,  when  completed,  to  increase  the  value  of  the  mining  properties 
upon  the  course  of  the  Comstock  vein,  by  enabling  the  companies 
to  work  their  ores  much  more  cheaply,  and  realize  profits  from  those 
which  are  now  of  too  low  a  grade  to  be  extracted  from  the  mine 
or  treated  in  the  mills.  At  the  head  of  these  enterprises  is  without 
doubt  what  is  known  as  the  "Sutro  Tunnel."  This  is  a  project  for 
draining  the  mines  upon  the  Comstock  by  means  of  an  adit  some 
three  and  one-half  miles  in  length,  and  which  will  strike  the  vein  at 
a  depth  of  nearly  one  thousand  nine  hundred  feet  below  the  out 
crops.  Its  importance  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated  as  affording 
a  permanent,  economical  drainage  to  such  a  great  depth,  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  projectors  of  this  scheme  will  meet  with  the  en 
couragement  which  they  deserve. 

I  am  Yours  Very  Respectfully, 

WILLIAM    ASHBURNER, 

Mining  Engineer. 
SAN  FRANCISCO^ 
November,  1865. 


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